DECEMBER 2023ENVIRONMENTAL BUSINESS REVIEW8 OPINIONIN MYTHE NEW PARADIGMSOF ENERGYBy Nicola Tagliafierro, Head of Global Sustainability, Circular Economy Manager, Enel GroupProsumption, or the transformation process of end-consumers into producer-consumers, is gaining more and more strength supported by the global trends of decarbonization and digitalization, which we might define as the `'Raison d'être'' and the enabling mechanism for this change, respectively.Customers are becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues and empowered by the convergence of digital innovation and the energy market, they are loudly demanding to become active participants in the game. For this reason, in this trilogy of articles we will explore the new paradigms of energy, imaging the future of the energy market, which will be increasingly clean, accessible and reliable. We'll talk about Energy Communities and Demand Response, forms of virtual mechanisms that are acquiring the role of key enablers for sustainability, not only from an environmental perspective but also deeply social and economic.The Relevance of Energy CommunitiesIn an increasingly urbanized world, cities and municipalities play a key role in the energy transition of society. In fact, it is estimated that by 2050 about 70 percent of the global population will live in cities, resulting in a massive demand growth for urban energy infrastructure. However, establishing prosumption in cities is more challenging than in rural areas because of the limited space available for energy generation. To overcome this barrier,
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