Switching to community energy

Define Community Energy  Community energy covers aspects of collective action to reduce, purchase, manage and generate energy.  Community energy projects have an emphasis on local engagement, local leadership and control and the local community benefiting collectively from the outcomes.  Community-led action can often tackle challenging issues around energy, with community groups well placed to understand their local areas and to bring people together with common purpose.

Advantages of Community energy  In most countries a small amount of large of companies hold a monopoly on the energy market, this makes it hard for governments to make changes to the energy market because these companies are so powerful.  However by decentralising energy communities can decided how best to do things relative to their situation, such as in Germany where a village called Guntag has switched all its energy production to biogas, they can use the leftover heat for all the villages hot water and they can sell excess energy back into the main grid.  In India a similar method was used and they used the excess methane for cooking which means they are no longer reliant on firewood and less likely to get eye cancer  When energy is produced at several large locations much of is lost when it travels to where it needs to be, but with community energy the power doesn’t have to travel large distances

Muppandal Wind Farm  Is located in one of the windiest places in India.  3,500 wind turbines and can generate 16,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to renewably power 1,000,000 homes.  One big turbine costs around £1,500,000  They have a huge tax break system, so other than the government paying for it, then private companies pay so you can write it off with your tax over 10 years.

Biogas overview  Biogas can be extracted from the following sources:  organic waste from landfill sites (landfill gas)  municipal wastewater (sewage gas)  industrial, domestic or commercial organic waste  agricultural waste materials and energy crops.  The fermenting process of the organic substance in the absence of air involves various anaerobic bacteria.

Biogas in India  In India is a bottom up development, this is when local people are involved from the start as they have a huge role, this is generally more successful as the people engage and value it more.  Rural people in India have a lot of eye infections and respiratory problems as they’re mainly wood burning fires and are indoors.  Just gathering fuel for cooking takes around a day a week to provide.  Its ‘appropriate technology’ as it’s appropriate to the local people’s skills and needs.  India has 4 million biogas plants  The gas is free because the cows are used for milk and the milk pays for the cows.

Positives in India  Provides enough energy to the community  BottomUp project  Any left over energy sold back to grid  Appropriate energy- Cheaper and easier to be made and maintained than larger scale projects  Clean and renewable energy  Biogas is very reliable  Wont be affected by rising prices  Don't have to rely on energy TNCs  Energy companies most by renewable energy before generating there own energy

Negatives in India  Cant rely on renewable because it will not meet rising demands  They will have to increase amount of fossil fuels used  Highest poverty rate in the world  Power cuts because there is not enough reliable energy  Can’t store wind energy from the wind farms

Reasons why these strategies are needed in India.  India has the highest poverty rate than anywhere in the world.  In many Indian cities, not enough power is being provided so there are frequent power cuts. (Supply and demand aren’t met so they don’t have energy security).  Around 50% of households in India don’t have electricity.  The average person per capita in energy in India is 5% of that of North America so 20 Indian people for 1 North American.  Growing urban and business sectors means that the demand for energy/electricity is continuing to increase  The government predict that the demand will quadruple within the next 25 years  India are trying to get 20 megawatts of energy from solar energy by 2020

Biogas in Germany  The German biogas industry has taken a pioneering role in the area of generation and utilisation of biogas.  Germany is Europe's biggest biogas producer and the market leader in biogas technology. In 2010 there were 5,905 biogas plants operating throughout the country.  In 2010, the total installed electrical capacity of these power plants was 2,291 MW.  Germany is both the market and technology leader, particularly in the area of gasification based on organic waste and renewable sources.  German companies also play a pioneering role in the growth market of biogas feed-in, and have positioned themselves with efficient technologies in the individual stages of the biomethane value chain.  In 2012, the export quota was approximately 40 per cent.

The Law on Electricity feed (Germany)  Biogas production in Germany has developed rapidly over the last 20 years. The main reason is the legally created frameworks. Government support of renewable energies started at the beginning of the 1990s with the Law on Electricity Feed (StrEG). This law guaranteed the producers of energy from renewable sources the feed into the public power grid, thus the power companies were forced to take all produced energy from independent private producers of green energy.  In 2002 the Law on Electricity Feed was replaced by the Renewable Energy Source Act (EEG). This law even guaranteed a fixed compensation for the produced electric power over 20 years. The amount of around 0.08 euro gave farmers the opportunity to become energy suppliers and gain a further source of income.

Conclusion Large TNCs exist to make a profit, they are not going to operate with the interests of the local population in mind especially when they have hardly any competition. Most energy TNCs are too large and operate with too little accountability to their customers and governments.