Facing the global energy crisis is not easy, especially if you do not have easy access to energy or the economic resources to join your renewable alternatives.
It is a vicious circle, the global climate crisis confronts us with extreme temperatures, harsh winters and hellish summers where people literally die for not having access to good heating or cooling.
Increases energy consumption to keep homes comfortable by saturating the system, consuming even more resources and this once again impacts the global climate.
Added to this is the global context of resource availability and rising prices.
For the user, the problem lies not only in the availability of these energies, but also in the financial resources to pay for them.
Many people have had to access loans outside the banking system to face debts with energy companies or to be able to invest in alternative energy systems. This trend is on the rise despite the fact that a plan for 3 billion euros was announced at the end of 2022 to contain 40% of households in the face of rising prices in the energy sector.
The causes of this context of climate and economic crisis
Despite international efforts to curb global warming, such as the Paris Agreement in 2015 to which Spain joined in 2017 with the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to those emitted in 1990 or the closure of Spanish coal mines in 2018, the crisis continues and must be faced.
There are clear benefits of the Paris Agreement and the right decisions have been made, but the transition to renewable energy carries an economic cost that has begun to be felt in the pockets of the Spanish people.
Last 2022 added another aggravating circumstance, the Ukraine-Russia conflict that triggered gas prices and the limitations of its availability for local consumption and for EU countries.
At the beginning of 2022 Spain imported only 7% of gas to Russia, but after the year they increased and at very high prices.
Another conflict affected the importation of gas to Spain, the rupture of the treaty between Algeria and Spain due to the position taken by President Sánchez in favor of Morocco in the dispute over the territory of Western Sahara.
The gas pipeline that brought gas to the Iberian Peninsula via Morocco was closed, and Spain was forced to transport the liquefied gas by ship to meet demand. Of course at very high costs.
The impact of the energy crisis on the Spanish economy
Around September 2022, inflation began that first impacted energy services directly related to the increase in oil, gas, and carbon emission permits, to later spread to the production of food and other products and services.
As a palliative measure, the Spanish government issued a decree that modified the electric Social Bonus, favoring the most vulnerable sectors with considerable discounts on energy consumption bills.
What will happen with the energy crisis in Spain
Spain has all the potential to be the decarbonisation hub of the EU according to a report published by McKinsey & Company.
To do this, it will have to invest large sums of money and technology in the renewable energy sector.
With these actions, it will also achieve the objectives proposed by the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan and the Paris Agreement.
Spain can achieve energy efficiency by investing capital in the wind energy sector, betting on the construction of wind farms in its vast territory.
Another alternative is presented to the energy from green hydrogen. Maersk, the maritime transport giant plans to invest 10,000 million euros in Spain for the production of this sustainable fuel.
A promising future, but you have to go through the present
Although the future regarding the supply of and access to renewable energy is promising, there is still a long way to go in transition.
And although governments make efforts to grant economic aid plans to make the energy crisis and the costs that it entails more bearable, users are the ones who are most affected in their daily lives by a domino effect due to the still dependent energy of the abroad.
The alternatives that remain are access to bank loans that day by day have greater demands, excluding a large part of the population. That is why access to personal loans are the ideal option to face these crises in a simple and accessible way for everyone.
Ecoportal.net