5 questions for… Tanja Popovicki
From pioneering Citizens Energy Communities to tackling the challenges of raising awareness and promoting sustainable practices, Tanja offers a deep dive into the initiatives shaping the future of energy and the environment. She also shares valuable advice for young professionals and explores the societal impact of transitioning to renewable energy sources, emphasizing the collective potential for a more sustainable and equitable world.
1. Can you share some insights on the most promising energy projects/initiatives currently being implemented in Serbia?
The recently adopted legal changes in Serbia open an opportunity for establishing Citizens Energy Communities, allowing individuals and organizations to share locally produced electricity.
For instance, in a neighborhood with a school and nearby homes, the surplus of electricity generated over the weekend when the school is closed can be redistributed to residents. This initiative represents more than just a project - it is the beginning of a revolution in how energy is produced, consumed, and disbursed enabling significant change in the position and role of citizens, empowering them to take control of their electricity consumption, production, and supply.
2. What are the biggest challenges you face in promoting energy, environment, and climate solutions, and how do you overcome them?
The lack of systematic knowledge, understanding, and determination are the most challenging issues causing citizens, as key carriers of change, to be deceived on topics related to their roles, potentials, and possible actions in energy projects or initiatives. It is hard to ensure the provision of accurate, evidence-based data and information, for example on the usage of new technologies like solar panels, heat pumps, or benefits from waste separation and recycling. We all tend to stay in our comfort zones and stick to what we know well (even if it is often not the most appropriate choice for us), and energy and environmental initiatives and projects are relatively new, less explored, and known concepts. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure abundant data, information, and examples to facilitate and encourage citizens' involvement and proactivity.
3. What advice would you give young professionals or students interested in pursuing a career in environmental protection and climate solutions?
We live in a very interesting moment of civilization development, with many challenges that are at the same time chances for us to grow on personal, professional, and societal levels. Climate is inevitably changing, and we are already witnessing some “crazy” storms, strange rainfalls, and summertime in December… this will be even more “wild” in the coming years. Climate changes are already affecting many fields of our lives, and they will probably be even more visible and scary in the future. Hence, if you want to make a difference in the world and do something useful, to help people and the planet, to prevent or adapt to changed circumstances – this is the path towards it. It requires a lot of patience and readiness not to see the results of your work straight away, or even never, considering that environmental goals are long-term and changes are happening slowly.
There are pivotal times in front of all of us, enabling one to be creative, to decide to focus on a scientific perspective, or to travel around the globe exploring new habitats, technologies, and methods of improving the environment. It is a nonrestrictive area that enables us to help, support, and improve everything around us as resources belong to everyone. It is not just science but rather the philosophy of living, working, creating, promoting, advocating, and functioning and a specific lifestyle that encourages conciseness, openness, and an approach to life that respects others, based on the interconnectivity of all, collaboration, and common achievements.
4. What are some of the major barriers to increasing energy efficiency across Serbia, and how is your team addressing these challenges to promote sustainable practices?
The major challenges are the lack of adequate knowledge, information, and examples that can showcase and demonstrate the benefits of energy or climate initiatives in a wider societal context. Therefore, our main goal is to educate, promote, and improve capacities among those who could and want to participate in these processes.
As we are a group of technical, policy, and academic professionals, we are trying to approach the issues we are facing through various perspectives and dimensions, to answer to dilemmas and concerns that citizens and policymakers might have in implementing certain measures or projects strive to improve energy efficiency or climate resilience. Moreover, we are focused on enabling professional connections and building stronger ties among experts and interested individuals both in Serbia and in the region to enable peer exchange and direct sharing of information that can be useful and accelerate decisions and implementation of initiatives or projects in this field.
5. How can the transition to renewable energy sources improve society as a whole?
As already mentioned, energy communities, energy cooperatives, and other citizens' energy initiatives that are mainly (technically) based on the replacement of fossil fuels and more usage of renewables represent a societal and global opportunity for changing the behavior of individuals and society.
For instance, if you install solar panels on your roof, you are changing your status from being only a passive consumer to becoming an active player in the production process and a potential participant on the electricity market. This shift is comparable with the occurrence of Facebook, as the first widespread social network. Before it, we were just passive users of phones, reading, listening, and looking at certain web pages, and with Facebook, we become an active participant, exchanging thoughts, opinions, and information with others, making and breaking connections, or using the platform for businesses, travel, promotion…With prosumers is the same.
Even though it is hard to predict at this moment how society will be changed, this change has already started. As we accept and acknowledge that the resources like sun, wind, and waves belong to all of us, more solidarity, collaboration over competition, and sharing among taking will dominate in our society.
Tanja Popovicki, co-founder of PET