Energy Academy: Power to the people

With technology dependent on electricity increasingly pervading our everyday life the access to energy becomes a driver for our general development and wellbeing. While the access to energy seems as something trivial there is a growing number of people which are unable to pay their electricity bills and are disconnected from the energy grid. With growing energy prices and the need for a costly large scale transition towards sustainable sources of energy this vulnerable group of people will only increase in the coming years. Amsterdam Zuidoost has a large population with low income and low education, while also existing of a large social housing stock of poor building quality. The possibility for this group to make their own housing self-sufficient or even less energy demanding is very low. Through the implementation of a power to ammonia (P2A) plant in this region they can have access to an affordable and clean source of energy. The idea behind this is the possibility of this plant to buy in very cheap sustainable energy at moments when there is no demand and storing this for later times. This energy can then be redistributed during peak demand and provide the region with a constant and cheap source of energy. Local energy production creates substantial numbers of job opportunities and thus contributes to the local economy, provides social and environmental benefits and improves energy security. The P2A plant will be combined with educational facilities ranging from vocational to higher educational training and providing the neighbourhood with consultancies on energy usage, possible home interventions and information on energy in general