On February 9th-10th, the Arava Institute, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung – Israel held a conference on Cross-border perspectives: Energy poverty and climate change in the Middle East.
Energy poverty is a state that manifests itself in the inability to ensure an adequate level of household energy services (heating, lighting, cooling, and use of various electric appliances). The discourse about the concept is gaining momentum in Israeli academia, but at the political level – it hardly receives any attention from decision-makers. The conference offered a platform for discussing the ability of governmental and non-governmental organizations, along with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders, to join forces, and together promote clean and achievable solutions to energy poverty while maintaining a healthy environment. The conference discusses the importance of policy tools to combat energy poverty, and energy poverty as a phenomenon of the geographical and social periphery in Israel, as well as how the increasing changes in climate (such as heat waves and extreme weather conditions) affect the lives of residents and the environment alike.
The second part of the conference included an in-depth tour of the Off-grid Demonstration Village at Kibbutz Ketura, which presents off-grid infrastructure and technologies as a test-field for innovation. It serves as a training and teaching facility in the fields of renewable energy and green technology, as well as an international visitors’ center.
