Become Electricity Rebels
Let me tell you the tale of what I would like to call futuristic story that become reality!!
Lights, TV, phones, laptops and more...In few words: we cannot live without electricity!! This is a fact!! But what is the matter with electricity... we even cannot see or feel it!!
So you are probably wondering:
Where electricity come from?
It depends on the country but we consider three main systems: nuclear energy based, fossil fuel based and hidroelectric systems. For istance in France the 78% of energetic source is nuclear and it also needs most of the potable water available in the country to cool off the reactors, wasting the most important resource that we/they have. But in the majority of other countries elecricity is generated by thermoelectric factories, using fossil fuel (coal, petrol and gas) as resorces and than the electricity is being spread all over toward our houses.
Who made it?
Each country has a proper agenda that give both to private and governament companies the monopoly of production and benefit of the business.
What is the linkage between ecology and production of electricity?
Producing electricity using fossil fuels means destruction of ecosystems, increasing of greenhouse effects and all the related consequences as well as loss of wellbeing inside our societies. The build up of an hydroelectric system come up with a deep environmental modifications that create depletion of local resources and ecosystems as a consequence.
How to react and start a new eco-friendly systems capable of provide us the energy we need without creating all those problems??
The answer to this question is given thanks to what the citizens of Shoneau have done.
Schoenau is a small Black Forest town located in Germany. There is a link between this peaceful nice town and the business of international companies that provide electricity among our countries.
Soon after the worst nuclear disaster of Chernobil Shoneau citizens started to doubt abuot electricity production systems that reqires such dangerous processes and non renevable resources to work. Parent's initiative was launched againsdt atomic energy because they were concerned about their children future. Some of them started to produce energy with combined systems of solar pannels, hydrogen based fuel cells and cogeneration.
In the begin the citizens were obstruct by the monopolistic holder of the energetic company because they were producing electricity by themselves.
So they started to find a legal way out creating an energy provider composed by citizens stakeholders called EWS in order to acquire the grid and the leadership of energetic company both for the production and management, in cooperation with municipal politicians wich approved their purpose.
First the citizens organized a referendum that got the 86% of approval. Later, on the second step they searched for needed money to become stakeholder repleacing the previous monopolyst company.
Not as easy as it said but thanks to the help of ethic bank, advertisment agency, promoting events and donations they finally achieved the total amonut. In few year the citizens start to sell electric energy produced by themselves.
In 2008 the EWS with 650 stakeholders provides electricity from renewable resources to 75000 german users.
In few word, villages are powering themselves selling the excess of electricity to the national grid. Those people have completely repleaced nuclear and fossil fuel based electricity with the sustainable eco-friendly type, avoiding environmental issues and disease within the population, gaining incomes as well.
Just think about the sense of fulfillment that such an experience can give to you. EWS is the emblem of a new relationship between us and the environment.
More details in the link below:
http://www.ews-schoenau.de/footer/international.html
