The energy and climate crisis is real, and the big fossil fuel companies are dictating the rules of the game. Global warming and Russia's aggression in Ukraine have accelerated the search for safer, cheaper, and greener energy. One option is energy provided by energy communities. In post-communist countries, however, cooperatives have a distinctly negative connotation. The belief that energy should come from big government agencies or fossil fuel companies has created a perception that energy prices are beyond our control. But is this statement true? We explore this and many other questions in the following report.
Across Europe, the awareness on energy poverty is growing rapidly and the issue is being increasingly integrated within the activities of the European Union, evidenced by the European Commission’s flagship legislative proposal “Clean Energy for All Europeans” announced on 30th November 2016. Some of the leading institutions working on energy poverty are the EU Energy Poverty Observatory and the European Energy Community. The EU Energy Poverty Observatory urges all relevant stakeholders working on energy poverty to build and expand a specialist network dedicated to addressing the issue across the Continent. According to their official website, the Observatory has been developed by 13 different institutions, including organizations, universities, and businesses. The advisory board is comprised of over 70 leading stakeholders from across Europe and it was officially established in 2018. Its creation is an effort of the European Commission to address energy poverty in a more systematic way, provide resources for public engagement, disseminate information and facilitate knowledge sharing.
BiH has a total of 244 rivers, which means that with the construction of more than 500 planned small hydropower plants, effectively all rivers in the country would be used for commercial purposes.
