Foreign Policy Blogs

Hermann Scheer – A Tremendous Legacy

hermann-scheer

It was shocking and sad to learn that the great Hermann Scheer died last night.  He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy.  That he had such vision, energy and commitment is one of the reasons why renewable energy is taking its rightful place in the world economy.  It will be, before much longer, the dominant form of energy.  I quoted Amory Lovins here:  “The Renewable Revolution has been won.  Sorry, if you missed it.”  Scheer’s contribution to winning the revolution is incalculable.

I wrote about Scheer in this post from last December.  He was a leading Social Democratic member of the German parliament and the principal architect of the German National Renewable Energy Act.  Through a feed-in tariff created by the law, a premium price is paid to providers of renewable energy.  This fostered a quantum leap in renewable activity in Germany.  (For background on this, see Scheer explaining it at this video taken from Nova’s program, “Saved by the Sun.”)

Scheer was the President of EUROSOLAR, the European Association for Renewable Energy, and General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE).  He was a tireless advocate for renewable energy – and reason.

If you can, take the time to watch his talk at the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) from a year ago in Washington.  The video segment with Scheer and his introduction by ACORE’s head begins at 43:45.

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

Contact