Speeches
Speech of Dr. Hermann Scheer, German MP and General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy, to the Global Windpower Conference 2002, Paris, April 2nd, 2002 I have the honour and the opportunity to speak to you in different responsibilities, but nevertheless with the same commitment and in the same direction – based on long experience in this matter: on the one hand as General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE), founded in June 2001 as well as President of EUROSOLAR, the European Association for Renewable Energies, on the other hand as one of the architects and the rapporteur of the German Parliament for the Renewable Energy Act, the legal framework for the worldwide most successful policy promotion of Renewable Energies in the electric power sector.
Speech Global Windpower Conference 2002 (pdf)
Speech of Dr. Hermann Scheer, President of EUROSOLAR, opening session of the 17th European Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, Munich, October 22th - 26th, 2001 How is the global state of introduction of Renewable Energies including PV Solar Energy Conversion? What describes the energy dangers of mankind in our times? The nuclear/ fossil energy economy dominates the global energy markets. It increasingly creates international conflicts because of the exhaustion of primary energy resources. Terrorist or military attacks against power stations and long power lines increase the vulnerability of societies. Conventional energies do harm to the health of people. This was shown recently by the magazine "Science", which predicted hundred thousands of deaths by fossil fuel emissions in the big cities. The conventional energies restrict the economies, mainly of the developing countries: most African states nowadays spend between 50 and 100 % of their total export income for the import of oil.
Speech of Dr. Hermann Scheer at the Opening Session of the European Wind Energy Conference, Copenhagen, July 2nd, 2001The possible role of Renewable Energies is being underestimated in politics and in the general public - including the mass media. This underestimation is based on various misinformations, intentionally disseminated by two very different groups: by the established nuclear and fossil power companies on the one hand, on the other hand by some traditional nature conservation initiatives, telling nonsense on the subject of wind energy or other Renewables.
Speech by Dr. Hermann Scheer, MP, President of EUROSOLAR, at the International Impulse Conference for the Creation of an International Agency for Renewable Energy (IRENA), Berlin, June 8th, 2001 Three major contradictions support the argument for establishing an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in the form of a multinational intergovernmental organisation: First, the lasting contradiction between the perceived dangers resulting from the use of nuclear and fossil energy and the dearth of political initiatives to introduce renewable forms of energy with which to avert those dangers.
The famous German philosopher Schopenhauer wrote: ”There are always three stages in the introduction of an innovation to society. In the first stage, the innovation is denounced as ridiculous, in the second stage it encounters vigorous resistance, in the third stage it is considered a natural fact of life.” Renewable energies are already in all three of these stages simultaneously, depending on who is talking about them. But the potential and inherent logic of renewable energies will become more and more obvious; photovoltaic solar energy consumption will become a main carrier of the future global energy system - probably the most appropriate way to use energy at all.
Madam Speaker, dear colleagues in the Swedish Parliament, dear friends,
"There is no alternative" - has become the most popular catchword of leaders in policy and economy. That is how they appeal to people to carry out the leaders' decisions and developments, not to criticize them and not to ponder whether other decisions and developments are possible. The more lopsided and short-sighted, the more absurd and dangerous the course of global economy and civilization, the louder the apodictic statement: "There is no alternative". By this statement, the majority of present leaders in the so called "First World" want to taboo reasoning and want to denounce those talking about - and working for - alternatives: as being unrealistic, not to be taken seriously, or simply ridiculous.
Welcome to the 20th Right Livelihood Award presentation! To celebrate this anniversary, most of our recipients met last May in Salzburg, at the invitation of the State Governor to reflect together on where we are today and on priorities for the future. Recently one of our supporters described this as "the world's most meaningful award". The enthusiasm it has awakened has, I believe, a simple explanation: in a world where the gap between words and action now threatens life itself, these awards offer a practical agenda for all of us.
