Citation: Ulgiati, S.; Schnitzer, H.; Santagata, R. Empowering Communities, beyond Energy Scarcity. Energies 2022, 15, 4106. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en15114106 Received: 30 May 2022 Accepted: 31 May 2022 Published: 2 June 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). energies Editorial Empowering Communities, beyond Energy Scarcity † Sergio Ulgiati 1,2, * , Hans Schnitzer 3,4 and Remo Santagata 5 1 Department of Science and Technology, University Parthenope, 80143 Napoli, Italy 2 School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 3 Process Engineering and Energy Systems, Institute of Process and Particle Engineering, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria; hans.schnitzer@tugraz.at 4 StadtLABOR—Innovation for Urban Sustainability, Griesgasse 40, 8020 Graz, Austria 5 Department of Engineering, Parthenope University of Naples, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy; remo.santagata@gmail.com * Correspondence: sergio.ulgiati@uniparthenope.it † BIWAES 2021—Biennial International Workshop Advances in Energy Studies. “If we talk of promoting development, what have we in mind: goods or people?” [1] 1. A Collaborative Network of Scientists and Social Communities Since the year 1998, a series of Advances in Energy Studies Workshops (BIWAES) have aimed to sharpen scientific focus and build a critical mass and collaborative network among scientists and social communities researching energy and energy-related wellbeing. The workshop was hosted by different countries (Italy, Brazil, Spain, Austria, India, Sweden). The 2008 workshop (Towards a Holistic Approach Based on Science and Humanity) was held in Graz, Austria [2] The 2021 BIWAES occurred in Graz, as a Special Session of the ERSCP2021, European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production [3]. This workshop aimed to gather all potential players in the energy field, to share knowledge and practices, regulations and roadmaps, as well as integrating and promoting different ways of looking at energy solutions. If successful, this pattern may finally help so- ciety to move beyond fossil fuels, overcome energy scarcity and environmental degradation, and prevent the exclusion of important sources of understanding and knowledge. 2. Interdisciplinary Evaluations The energy problem cannot be addressed using only thermodynamic or technolog- ical terms. As was shown in previous editions of BIWAES, a deeper understanding of trends, solutions and policies can only be achieved by converging the efforts of different disciplinary sectors, so that economic, social, environmental, cultural and psychological expertise can converge into an innovative picture of local and larger communities, towards a shared well–being. 3. Old and New Consumers After COP 21 in Paris [4], the promotion of international agreements on climate change and societal attention to the sustainable use of energy and resources continued to increase. Energy and environmental security are major problems facing our global economy. The increased growth, although this was recently slowed down by the Covid pandemic, and the demands for welfare and well-being made by developed and developing countries, have placed increased pressure on energy resources. A large fraction of “new consumers” in developing countries, mainly concentrated in megacities, strive to access commodity and energy markets worldwide, thus boosting energy consumption and competition for all kinds of resources. Energies 2022, 15, 4106. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15114106 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies