siward zomer - energy cooperatives creating a better social economy in seven steps
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Presentation by Siward Zomer at the conference Economy, People & Planet organised by Omstilling Nu in November 2015.www.omstilling.nu/epp2015TRANSCRIPT
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Siward Zomer, board memberEnergy cooperatives creating a social economy in 7 steps.
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What is a REScoop: REScoop is short for Renewable Energy Sources COOPerative.
A REScoop is a group of citizens that cooperate in the field of renewable energy, developing new production, selling renewable energy or providing services to new initiatives.
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24/06/2014
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What is a REScoop: Cooperative principles 1844: Rochdale Pioneers ICA revision 1966 Open, voluntary membership.Democratic governance.Limited return on equity.Surplus belongs to members.Education of members and public in cooperative principles.Cooperation between cooperatives.Concern for community
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1. Open, voluntary membership.
Everybody can participate, so it is truely for the community
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2. Democratic governance.
Members have one voteEquality in power
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3.Economic participation of members
Capital is owned by the membersLimited surplus is returned to the members
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4. Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy.
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5. Education of members and public in cooperative principles
To have equal participation members need to be informed about their role in the co-op and about the co-op itself
To further democratise the economy other members should join, they need to know how the co-op works.
A Co-op should be a glass house - Transparancy
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6. Cooperation between Co-opsA cooperation exists for its members, so there is no need to compete with other co-ops.
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7. Concern for the community
Cooperatives are companies owned by people from the community for people from the community. It is logical that the company takes care for its community.
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A energy transition to a citizen energy democracy
To change the world you need to start small! Start local think global!
Embrace the REScoop revolution
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