The Dutch Green Party wants to have a Green Energy Union for renewables. But Craig Morris says the Dutch are learning the wrong lesson from Germany. He paraphrases Bill Clinton: “Its energy democracy, stupid!”
All posts tagged: Communities
German Renewable Energy Act Reform is not a “Feed-in Tariff 2.0”
The German government has presented a first draft to reform the Renewable Energy Act, cornerstone of Germany’s energy transition. Anna Leidreiter explains the shortcomings.
Diaspora-Driven Campaigns Finance Clean Energy Projects
For countries with widespread and established emigrant communities, crowdfunding can be a means to support sustainable development at home, reports Paul Hockenos.
The right to make your own energy
This week, the European Commission will respond to Europe’s first citizens’ initiative, this time for the “right to water.” Craig Morris wonders whether making your energy is not also a right.
Hamburg citizens vote to buy back energy grid
On September 22nd, citizens in Hamburg, Germany’s second biggest city, not only re-elected Angela Merkel as chancellor but also gave their electoral mandate to the city authority to buy back the energy grid in their Hanseatic city. Why? Because they concluded that the private sector cannot be trusted with public services – and that community ownership and participatory governance is the way to go, notes Anna Leidreiter.
Community ownership – is it crowdfunding?
Recently, the UK’s Sam Friggens spoke of community ownership in Germany as crowdfunding. Craig Morris wondered why he had never heard the Germans call it that, and he could think of two reasons – one small, the other big.
US labor unions call for energy democracy
A new campaign for renewables in the US focuses on something too often overlooked in the debate there: community ownership. Craig Morris is pleased to see the campaign’s work, but he nonetheless has some things to critique.
With Citizen Buy-in, German Village Generates 5X Renewable Energy It Needs
Why does the Energiewende enjoy such widespread acceptance in Germany? Sara Peach went to Wildpoldsried and found that when citizens can invest in local renewable installations, everybody reaps the economic benefits of the energy transition.
100% Renewable Energy And Beyond!
International observers regularly argue that the German Energiewende is mainly a governmental program. The opposite is true: The Energiewende has always been driven foremost by local communities and regions. Thomas Gerke takes a look at the pioneers and shows that complete independence of fossil fuels is not only a remote vision but reality in many German regions today.
The laws of nature are immutable, not the laws of man
How do America’s future environmentalists view Germany’s energy transition? Craig Morris recently spent a day with a group of students from the US and found some things encouraging, others not.