“Monaco has everything it takes to play a key role in the global energy transition”
On the occasion of the launch of the special issue “Monaco, laboratory for energy transition” of the journal Transitions & Energys, we spoke with the director of the publication Gil Mihaely about the energy transition in the Principality.
Why the review Transitions & Energies interested in Monaco?
The magazine that I founded with Éric Léser three years ago and part of an observation: we will not save our planet by creating multiple economic, social and political crises. Accordingly, the energy transition that we are calling for is compatible with growth, the market economy and democracy.
This is why Monaco has our attention very early on, because in this country the deep and global transition which is the energy transition is linked with the participation and support of city stakeholders: individuals (citizens, residents, cross-border workers), companies and associations.
Public actors, such as the mission for energy transition or the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation as well as other structures – in particular regulatory and funding structures – guide the general movement, designate objectives and provide resources. And of course there is this special relationship with the sea which is reflected both in thalassothermy – a technology of which Monaco is a pioneer and a world leader – and in the particular interest shown – in particular by the Yacht Club de Monaco – in new modes of motorization of boats. This rare and precious experience which deserves to be known well beyond the borders of the Principality.
In short, we have in Monaco 2km2 of social, economic, technological and political innovation (in the noblest sense of the term). It is a real example to study and a laboratory for learning how to carry out this mutation, which is both vital and extremely complicated, to which no one in the world can escape …
>> READ ALSO: Why is the Principality relying on thalassothermy?
Who is this number for?
To the whole community of energetic transition ! Everyone tries to understand how the introduction of technologies, regulations and measures are first received by all users and then at what points they impact the results and especially the performance of a community in terms of reduction greenhouse gas emissions and more broadly the preservation of ecosystems without which our hope will have difficulty surviving. Thus, in the pact for the energy transition that the Prince’s Government has initiated, it concerns mobility and heating but also wipes …
This huge open-air Monegasque laboratory is therefore of interest to players in the green and low-carbon energy production sectors (solar, geothermal, thalassothermal energy), players in the mobility sectors (car, bicycles and electric motorcycles but also battery producers, charging station operators), building stakeholders (it must make all existing buildings – residential, professional, public, tourist hotels – energy efficient or net contributors). And of course all those who should finance these huge projects, audit them …
>> READ ALSO: The future of transport in the Principality will be electric
Finally, governments, local communities and associations working for the energy transition are very demanding and would like to learn from the Monegasque experience. Monaco has everything it takes to play a key role in the global energy transition and example by bringing together all stakeholders to exchange experiences and launch pilot projects before applying them on a larger scale.
What can we learn from reading this issue?
The first choice, for non-Monegasques, is quite simply to learn that Monaco is already an important player in the energy transition and that it is now in their interest to closely follow what is happening in the Principality. We hope that little by little Monaco will be associated in our imaginations with the theme of energetic transition.
More concretely, we can get an idea of Monegasque ambitions, projects and achievements in the field. Above all, we can get to know the Monegasque institutional players (who does what) and understand how it really and concretely works. It is obviously only a plate of hors d’oeuvres but we hope that this initiative will arouse the curiosity of all the actors of the energetic transition.
the special issue of the journal Transitions & Energys in kiosk and in line.
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