RIP Hermann Scheer (1944-2010)
October 15, 2010 10:43 AM Subscribe
Hermann Scheer -
long-serving German parliamentarian,
"Europe's Al Gore," father of the feed-in tariff, and perhaps the most important green politician of our time -
died yesterday at the age of 66.
Though mostly unknown in North America, Hermann Scheer was among the most prominent European proponents of renewable energy. Scheer, a Social Democrat, and Hans-Josef Fell of the Greens, co-wrote and championed Germany's
Renewable Energy Sources Act, passed by the
Red-Green Coalition government in 2000.
This
feed-in tariff legislation set prices for electricity from renewable sources far above those for conventional power. It is credited with
creating more than a quarter of a million jobs and
vaulting Germany to the front ranks of the global green economy. It has since been
copied in dozens of jurisdictions the world over, from
Italy to the Canadian province of
Ontario to
Gainesville, Florida.
Scheer was also
instrumental in the establishment of the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was given the
Right Livelihood Award (aka the "alternative Nobel Prize") in 1999.
He wrote
several influential books on what he called "the techno-logic" of renewable energy.
From a 2009 interview with German journalist Franz Alt:
The transition to renewable energy is a switch from imported energy to indigenous energies, from commercial fuels to non-commercial fuels, from large power plants to small and medium production facilities and to new conversion technologies – and not just the avoidance of emissions and nuclear waste. The totality of expenses for renewable energies – except for bio fuels – results from technology costs. This is a transition from fuel business to technology business, from energy dependence to energy autonomy. I call this the techno-logic of energy sources. That is why we need a global technology market for the deployment of local and regional renewable energy resources. Many have misunderstood this concept – even advocates of renewable energy. The manifold mental barriers result from this misconception.
Hermann Scheer 29 April 1944 - 14 October 2010. RIP.
posted by ltl at 11:53 AM on October 15, 2010