The renewable palma project born from the public and currently funded by the Cabildo de La Palma, is preparing to launch a cooperative of shared electric cars (car sharing). This new initiative, called Movedhas its origin in some citizen workshops organized in 2019 and, despite the pandemic and the complicated bureaucratic processes, it has already started the procedures for its official registration.
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The individual use of a fleet of shared vehicles is an increasingly frequent dynamic in the mobility landscape, as evidenced by the growth of Red Europea The mobility factory oh the emergence and consolidation of cooperatives as Alternacoop (Valence), ConnectMovel (Madrid) and We are Mobility (Catalonia).
In fact, the latter was the point of reference that inspired the operation of Moved and with whom they contacted from the beginning to start the project. This collaboration was based on an exchange of training and information that resulted in the inclusion of Moved in Mobility Networkthe national community of shared electric vehicle cooperatives.
“We offer knowledge but there are many variables that depend on the territory, especially in the case of an island like La Palma”, they say since We are Mobility in relation to the palm grove initiative. So in the year 2020 The renewable palm published a survey on its social networks to better know the profile of potential drivers, but the number and characteristics of the vehicles they will offer are still unknown.
For this, from Moved intend to increase the number of members of the cooperative after the official launch. “In the Canary Islands there is a niche of citizens who are very motivated to bring about real change, especially in the situation of energy and climate crisis that we are living”, they say. , even if they also intend to join forces with administrations and companies.
A necessity and also an opportunity
As the Government of the Canary Islands explained in its Methodological guide for the development of sustainable urban mobility plansin the Canary Islands there are approximately 780 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, among which people without driving licenses are also counted, so the final figures indicate that in reality, there are more vehicles than drivers.
The fragmentation and dispersion of the population on the islands is one of the main reasons why public transport sees the profitability of its service doomed. At the same time, the individual use of vehicles has increased over the years, contributing to transport being the only European economic sector whose greenhouse gas emissions have increased over the past 30 years.
The potential of shared cars, in this sense, lies not only in reducing pollution, but also in achieving cost savings compared to vehicles for individual use, since the user would not pay for the maintenance of the vehicle but only its occasional use. Thus, the government guide indicates that the car sharing It is a profitable alternative, especially for occasional and short-term trips, such as between neighboring towns or, for tourism, between beaches and hotel or residential areas.
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The renewable palm also leads with the energy community beautiful energy a civic group that independently generates and manages its energy resources. Recently, this initiative received a grant from the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) for a total amount of 100,000 euros.
The cooperative already has more than 50 members on the island and is currently working to have 20 self-consumption points throughout the island territory. The most advanced project is that of Los Sauces, where they plan to build a photovoltaic installation in a pond belonging to the Irrigation Community. With this, they will be able to provide energy within a perimeter of 500 meters around the square.
“The ultimate goal of this entity is to allow as many people as possible on the island to have control of their energy consumption”, they comment since The renewable palm. To achieve this goal, learning to consume less energy is vital, as well as the fact that the energy consumed is renewable, local and belongs to the community.
The Canary Islands join sustainable mobility
At the beginning of the summer, the government of the Canary Islands formalized the increase in the budget for sustainable mobility aids, the total calculation of which reaches 29 million euros. This amount will be used to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles and the installation of charging points for people who, until December 31, 2023, have sent their request.
The Minister of Energy Transition, José Antonio Valbuena, underlined after the announcement the fundamental role of this type of measure to “continue to move forward in the transition to new, more efficient and sustainable transport models”. It should be recalled that the energy transition plan for the Canary Islands presented by the Minister this year sets the objective that by 2030, 60% of the islands’ electricity demand “comes from renewable energies”, as well as the total decarbonization of islands in 2040.
Sustainable mobility is a key element of this commitment, given the importance of transport in energy consumption. The government of the Canary Islands predicts that in less than ten years there will be more than 260,000 electric vehicles on the islands. An objective that will require a great effort from the administrations, given that currently 55% of Canarian cars do not have access to garages where they can be recharged.