It is important to keep an open mind and always be ready for the unexpected.
I wanted to write a post about my thoughts behind my interviews to help clarify my intentions. At first I wasn’t sure how to approach figuring out how people in Germany find energy affordable, I thought maybe a survey. While I think a survey would have been much better to discover a larger audiences opinion on electricity prices but it would not have only gotten me more linear answers. It would be lacking in personal accounts and why they feel that way. To me, it was important to have an understanding of why they find the price of energy to high, to low or somewhere in between. Once I knew I wanted to do personal interviews, I needed to find people to talk to. The conclusion was made that, if I want to know the average citizens opinion, it would be smart to ask them. My study abroad program was a great place to look since our faculty and staff are all fluent in English, which is the only language I speak so there is no language barrier and many of them have been living in Berlin for a number of years. I knew two of the people I interviewed were not in the field of sustainability so I can have accounts of people who do not have inside knowledge of the field. Without extended knowledge they would have to make decisions only based on their electricity bill and knowing Germany has very progressive goals for their energy sector. With that in mind, I was curious to know if someone in the field of sustainability would have different opinions since they would have a better grasp on Germany’s policy and the field as a whole. Going into all the interviews I assumed the to average citizens would want to lower the price of their energy but they both said it was reasonable. One did opt to go for all renewable energy which does increase the price but only marginally. My expert also said the cost was reasonable but did wanted an increase price to incentives people to be more energy efficient. I was pretty confident the two citizens would say lower the price since it is common to want to pay less for utilities and my expert was say to keep the price the same. I was pleasantly surprised since I don’t have much experience with paying for energy. I have either lived in a dorm or with my parents so it is never really something I have thought of. Without that experience under my belt it is hard to know what other peoples thoughts on the topic without asking them are. It was a great experience to have these people share their opinions with me and has opened my eyes to not believing everyone wants to make things cheaper.
Link to Picture: https://pixabay.com/en/sunset-sun-windr%C3%A4der-clouds-forest-1733741/