Speech of Hermann Scheer, President of EUROSOLAR and General Chairman of the WCRE at the Founding Conference of the International Renewable Energy Agency on 26. January 2009 in Bonn, Germany
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow colleagues from the German Parliament, dear friends of IRENA,
Today we inaugurated the milestone for the global move to renewable energy - a move made in a higher speed than ever before.
International Press Articles
Article published by Dr. Wolfgang Palz, Chairman World Council for Renewable Energy, prepared for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting 2008, Saint Lucia, 6-8 October 2008
Keith Ballinger/Masterfile
Biofuels and the Global Food Crisis - Are Biofuels an Evil or a New Opportunity?
Agricultural commodity prices started to rise sharply in 2006 culminating at new records in the first months of 2008. Globally, the import bill for foodstuff in 2007 increased by 29%; this, in combination with an even more dramatic price increase of all conventional energies such as oil, coal, gas, and Uranium on the global markets, became an economic and social disaster for many countries, in particular for the “low-income, net-importing” countries. Dozens of them import a 100% of their petroleum needs and a major part of their demand in grain: 30% of their population suffers from chronic hunger.
Article published by Prof. Peter Droege, Faculty of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Australia and WCRE Chairman, July 2008 in the Sydney Morning Herald
Forget carbon trading - let's go straight to renewable energy
The confusion around emissions trading has served to disguise for too long that countries, regions and cities need crash programs to replace energy systems, and exchange coal and oil for renewable power. The longer this is postponed, the more difficult the ultimate effort will be, yet it is necessary for our survival and to help other countries make this revolutionary change.
Article published by Preben Maegaard, WCRE Chairman, Director Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, Denmark, July 2008
Energy Security in Africa with Renewable Energy
More than any other continent, Africa needs an energy revolution and independence from the international fossil fuel economy; a change to renewable energy and energy autonomy is paramount for survival. Africa depends largely on the import of fossil fuels to meet a significant and growing part of its modern energy needs, which has created perverse effects on the economy and lives of Africans. Renewable energy is the only viable alternative that has the potential, when properly managed, to improve quality of life on a national and continental scale.
The first programme of the World Wind Energy Institute (WWEI), supported by WCRE, started on May 15th, 2007, at the Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, as culmination of four years of preparations. The WWEI was created in order to cover the deficit in training and education in renewable energies (RE) which exists in many parts of the world. The uneven distribution of knowledge, experience and technology denies access to RE technologies to many countries and sectors of the population. This represents an important limiting factor for the necessary dissemination of renewable energy technologies.