Money is power

04/12/2015

The energy transition is not solely a technical transition from centralised fossil fuel production to decentralised renewable energies. It mostly is a social and political transition within the energy market and has much broader implications. Everywhere I travel in Europe, I see pro-active citizens working in the energy transition. Their arguments are the same in every country. “If we don’t do it nobody else will.” People feel that in a globalised world, power does not exclusively lie with their representative governments. They see that governmental is often far too influenced by big business, ignoring the will of the people. The energy transition will democratise energy, make it more transparent and more equitable when executed by citizens that organise themselves on a local level.

Then we come to the point of money. Money has been a source of power in Europe since the Middle Ages. We all remember the Templers, but few remember that they were exterminated by Philip the Fair to get a hold of the money streams they controlled. This is an extreme example, but it states the point. Those who are in power want to control where money is going. Where it is invested and what is done with it. This is the most effective way of controlling how your society will look in the future.

When we as citizens of Europe fight for more power and control in the energy transition, then it is a logical step to look at the money streams of citizens. Until recently, citizens have been passive consumers of financial products with banks as intermediaries. These banks had one specific goal: to please their shareholders. In other words, they would invest there where most money was to be made, regardless whether it destroyed our environment.

Both crowdfunding and energy cooperatives give the power of money directly to citizens. Now citizens can take power and control in two ways: locally, they can start their own renewable energy production, own it and decide democratically on the revenues and they can control the flow of their money into the energy transition.

By Siward Zomer, Chairman of De Windvogel