Solarizing Greece is a way out of the crisis
Greece is facing a depression on a scale arguably comparable
to the US Great Depression of the late 1920s. Huge unemployment rates
and a dramatic drop in family incomes of over 40 percent have Greek
citizens pondering what the impacts will be of the new bail-out
agreement. Unending austerity and lack of hope are all it seems the
future has to offer.
But there is a way to start changing things for the better. With
energy poverty emerging as one of the most dramatic symptoms of the
recession – six out of every 10 households are struggling to pay their
energy bills – it is high time that Greece seized upon its greatest and
still largely unexploited asset: the Sun.
The new 'Solarize Greece' campaign by Greenpeace Greece
aims to bring together all those who dream of a brighter and more
sustainable future, not only for Greece but for all European countries.
Its objectives are to help Greece kickstart solar power as a driver of
the economy, to rid the country of the burden of fossil fuels that are
holding it down economically and for Greece to fight its way back out of
the crisis.
Solar power has worked minor miracles for Greece before. In the
turbulent decade of the 1970s that saw two major global energy crises,
the Greek government offered tax incentives to households for solar
water heaters, and a national policy was aimed at saving power. That led
to hundreds of thousands of households installing solar heaters and
significantly reduced energy bills. Equally important, a new industry was born
and soon solar heaters became one of Greece's finest export products.
It seemed then that the Sun had done its part to help Greece work its
way out of a tight spot.
