Busting Myths, Leading Transition

The architect of Germany’s successful renewable energy law describes what it will take to effect a global shift.

By Hermann Scheer, Ph.D.

Only a few nations have demonstrated an outstanding practical commitment to renewable energy. As a result of German laws promoting renewable energy, in 2005 50 percent of the annual world production of photovoltaic modules was installed in Germany. Photo courtesy of SCHOTT

Reviewing the state of the global energy supply, we see good news and bad news. The bad news is that oil reserves are running out. The good news: Oil reserves are running out.

Oil scarcity is good news because we face another deadline approaching more quickly than nonrenewable energy reserves are being depleted: The race to mitigate climate change through a global transition from polluting, finite sources to clean, sustainable energy resources. There is no more doubt; we are at a turning point. During the next few decades, we must come to depend entirely on renewable energy if we are to avoid catastrophic climate- change consequences. Despite this “inconvenient truth,” we have much to gain from the transition. Renewable energy sources create so many benefits and new hopes for the world’s societies that they present much more than a last option. They are the best possible choice.

Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” thrills the public and creates momentum. Big challenges require big solutions. People left with the awareness of a gigantic danger and no clear plan for addressing it adopt no-future mentalities. The perception that there exist no overall alternatives to conventional energy supplies therefore spiritually pollutes peoples’ minds. They can be activated against these dangers only if we can demonstrate convincing solutions to overcome the problems of the fossil and atomic age. To succeed in this task is the first and foremost objective of all renewable energy advocates.

About the author: Hermann Scheer, Ph.D., architect of Germany’s Act on Feeding in Electricity, has received honors including Right Livelihood Award (1999), the Solar World Prize (1998) and the World Wind Energy Award (2004). He is president of EUROSOLAR; general chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy; president of the International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies; a member of the German Bundestag; and author of several books, including his latest, Energy Autonomy – The Economic, Social and Technological Case for Renewable Energy. Access www.hermannscheer.de/en.

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