The energy transition to energy democracy. Power to the people.

After the energy experts and politicians, now big energy companies cannot say enough about the ‘energy transition’ that citizens, local governments, cooperatives and other new companies have been concretely working on for two decades. Transition means moving from one form to another. However, opinions can differ significantly concerning exactly where we are headed. Usually it concerns new ways of supplying energy that, in addition to being reliable and affordable, also have the following characteristics:

• Reduced energy consumption through efficiency and conservation;

• Less CO2 emissions by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy;

• Improved power grid efficiency by converting it to a smart grid where information flows in both directions, by demand response, and by the decentralised production of electricity and biogas;

• Increased grid flexibility so that large amounts of variable renewable energy can be absorbed.

But these are rather technical characteristics of the energy supply of the future. When we reflect on what REScoops do and what the REScoop 20-20-20 Intelligent Energy Europe project brought to light, we arrive at the following specific recommendations about the characteristics of our energy supply of the future:

• Keep the common goods in the hands of citizens;

• Keep production in the hands of citizens;

• Keep the transmission and distribution networks in the hands of citizens;

• Spread the REScoop movement across Europe.

REScoop.eu website rescoop.eu