CER’s vision is a fair transition to a new way of producing and consuming energy locally. It is addressed to citizens and groups of citizens (Municipality, Company, Energy Community). It offers, according to your specific conditions and needs, participatory workshops and digital or material tools for energy saving, green energy, photovoltaic energy production, and energy communities. It also offers consulting services and produces research on these issues. CER promotes citizens’ participation in the transition to a different energy model and their familiarity with new technologies and the idea of ​​local production and energy consumption.

Achieving the company’s vision will benefit the environment, by reducing emissions, and society, by improving living standards. Daily energy costs are very high in relation to people’s income. Better management and organization of everyday life with a new perspective can improve the situation at home initially; because in any case, apart from health, a plate of nutritious food and a warm home are basic human needs. The low standard of living, part of which is cold and damp houses, is a sad and absurd reality when technology has advanced so much over the years.

Our measurable goal is to reduce CO2 emissions. To achieve this, clean energy production, energy savings and investment in energy efficiency are the most sustainable ways to reduce CO2 production and consumption.

In addition, energy poverty has increased significantly in Greece. According to the EU Observatory on Energy Poverty in 2016, 29.4% of the Greek population is unable to keep their homes warm enough. Greece is the third country in the EU for this indicator after Bulgaria and Lithuania, showing mainly that homes need energy efficiency measures. To support households, the state offers subsidies for oil and electricity generated by fossil fuels. This is an ineffective solution with negative environmental effects, as households affected by energy poverty are mostly old and even with subsidies they cannot be warm enough with serious social and health consequences.

We want to inspire and strengthen a network of communication and action to save energy, energy efficiency and energy communities, to investigate scenarios for the maximum benefit of citizens in the new energy market.

We want to support your intention for a future of cleaner and cheaper energy and to help tackle energy poverty.

#Changing perspective produces energy!
#The energy in the hands of the citizens!
#Citizens are changing their perspective!

Participation and play are our main tools. Gaming is a basic learning tool and we are interested in using it. We have contributed to the design of a board game, Energopoly, with the aim of familiarizing players with the concept of energy communities (recommendation, investment, shares). The energy transition is quite complex and a game can greatly reduce comprehension time.

We are interested in seeing how we all learn from everyone and become wiser – and therefore more sustainable.

Principles of our team’s operation are justice, transparency and the development of trust within the wider group but also between the team and the energy communities in order to offer quality services with respect for humans and the environment. Our vision is a future of clean energy and energy security. We are citizens of the world and we do not want any kind of inequality or discrimination.

Communication and collaboration with other teams is extremely important for CER. The more complex an issue such as energy is, the more holistically it needs to be addressed in order to find viable solutions. High costs, climate change and the energy transition are increasingly occupying more and more different sectors and levels of responsibility.

Community Energy River was founded with the initiative of trained scientists in the field of energy and economics. Two electrical engineers in cooperation with an expert on financial and strategic planning lead our team’s vision. The partners acquire supplementary skills and experience in project implementation. The leadership of our team consists of female electrical engineers who actively support the equality of sexes on technical profession. Common vision and friendships connect those who started together. Through the Community Energy River, they seek to apply the knowledge they have and inspire. CER’s tools are science, technology and art, aiming at a comprehensive approach to the good of energy.

Along with the leading team, CER has developed a wide network of valuable partners in order to meet the interdisciplinary requirements of the subject and its vision for energy and technology, given the complex and changing legal and regulatory framework. They are counselors on energy and cooperative law, specialists in communication and team empowerment, and developers with experience in technologies such as blockchain and machine learning.

Moreover, our team includes educators, students and artists. They all deal with issues at their own place and with their own knowledge, experiences and skills.

Electrical engineer (NTUA) specialized in energy conservation and renewable energy sources
President of Attica’s energy cooperative

I am interested in the promotion of the transition to clean inclusive energy and combating energy poverty. My goal is to contribute to a future with better living conditions for people (warm houses with fresh air) and a cleaner way of producing the energy needed.

What I am really concerned is the fact that when I am personally in a bad mood, I do not respect either the environment or the other people. Even if it happens eventually, I make a tremendous effort. There is something inside me that pushes me to let the tap water run on purpose. I feel it is a childish reaction. Why does a kid develop a delinquent behavior? Because he/she wants to attract attention and makes sure that everybody loves him/her. When this kid grows up, he/she starts to love and then he/she reacts against his/her own behavior. In this way, he/she does not experience reality. What is the connection with reality? Compassion. We need compassion to put theory into practice. Because theory  is different from practice but imagination can create a new – even temporarily – good or bad reality. The bad reality if I was a poet, I would say that it is a childish reaction to the dream. He/she has got a furious personality and does not make discriminations. Even in the further palace you can see homeless people, either you are interested or not,  sometime in your life it is possible that you’ll see such an image. I believe that every individual has some feelings about that but life is too short and it has not only joyful moments but also sorrows. There are also sometimes that most people consider them as good or bad. What happens when someone comes  into adulthood? Do his/her reactions become more intense? And does reality become tougher? But is what we consider as adulthood far from reality? So don’t we have to react that much? Art along with imagination create personal expressions of reality, they transfer them to us and we taste them as much as we can. But it seems that imagination is beyond reality and art helps us get through everything and remember that we are mortal people. How would reality be different? I will be happy to have your views!

Communication And Media Department – National And Kapodistrian University Of Athens

I am interested in the experiential and creative education of children and adolescents through the arts and specifically through the world of theatre play. I have been increasingly concerned lately about the quality of our lives, the impact of climate change, what we can do to influence (positively!) these changes and more generally about our right to energy – what does it mean to have access to energy? how do I claim this?

So I am working to promote all these issues through Community Energy River’s activities and educational programmes in the hope that YES! we can bring change, however small!

And if play is not the best way to learn, reflect and take action, then what is?

Kindergarten teacher, TEAPI (Preschool Department) – National And Kapodistrian University Of Athens

I’m interested in children, nature and the environment. From a young age, life in nature existed in my everyday life, as a child who lived near the sea in the winter time and in the village for the summer period.

My path through my own engagements with nature is to learn through pedagogical approaches that promote self-activity to children whose educational environment is nature and within which they develop, learn and communicate. Carrying in my luggage pedagogical, mountain, group, individual, practical and spiritual experiences, I seek and enjoy sharing similar ones with children and being able, even for a while, to live following the rhythm of nature and learn from it!

Theatrology, Department of Theatre Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens & Acting, Drama School Delos-Dimitra Hatoupi

I am interested in theatre as a tool of expression that can highlight today’s challenges with a particular focus on climate change. Through the technique of theatre play and experiential education, participants can represent and perceive the impact of anthropogenic activities on the environment.

So I work at Community Energy River delivering educational programs and through this interactive process with adolescents, theatre play becomes a powerful educational tool that promotes awareness and action to deal with the climate challenge.

Far more than mere entertainment, play is a valuable process of development, collaboration and learning, offering a unique opportunity to explore and understand ourselves as well as the world around us.

So let’s play!

Electrical Engineer, BEng. MSc & Actor, School of Forward Theatre Workshop

I have been working in the renewable energy sector since 2005 and as an actor I have performed in film and theatre.

Since becoming a father I have experienced the complexity of social, environmental issues that we deal with in different ways. I felt the need to bring my skills together so I started working on creating happenings for young and old, exploring the boundaries between art and science. These happenings, presented in the form of workshops, have been delivered in schools, municipalities, theatres and cultural venues in Greece and abroad.

Another field of action is Nonviolent Communication for children and adults where I am in the process of being certified as a trainer. More information at https://spytsiknas.wixsite.com/sustainable-art.

Main photo credit: calderone.art.space

The workshops are implemented as approved educational programmes on sustainability by the competent Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and are adapted to the needs of each group. They are also scientifically supervised by an Electrical Engineer with specialisation and experience in Renewable Energy Sources, Conservation and Energy Communities.