Community-led initiatives are increasingly seen as an effective means to transform our energy systems, empowering citizens to drive the transition and directly benefit from it. In Europe, the community energy movement has gained significant traction, particularly in response to the ongoing energy crisis, which has exposed the vulnerabilities of centralized, profit-driven, fossil-fuel-based systems. This Energy Café focuses on one such initiatives – Italy’s largest renewable energy cooperative – offering insights into how its members engage with the electricity market and infrastructure. It explores how these members perceive their role as both producers and consumers (‘prosumers’) of electricity.
The Energy Café is an informal, open and inclusive space where people across University of St Andrews, from undergraduates to Professors Emeriti, can come together for an hour to share ideas about the energy research they are working on. It is intended to encourage collaborations, expand research horizons, and inspire new ideas and questions about issues of energy. This is a hybrid event and will be hosted online as well as in-person.
Hosted by the Centre for Energy Ethics, the Energy Café is not limited to one discipline, one department or one school – it is open to everyone.
