Provada congres: Introductie voor Hermann Scheer
Speech for Provada congres on 18 juni 2009, Jacqueline Cramer introduces Hermann Scheer.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Mr. Hermann Scheer,
On a Tuesday afternoon in May of this year Russian president Dmitri Medvedev approved and signed a paper on Russian homeland security until 2020. The report stated - amongst other things of national importance - that Russia might face wars on its borders in the near future over control of energy resources.
No potential enemies are named, but Russia, the world's biggest energy producer, shares a border of more than 3,600 km with China and a small maritime border with America.
A quote from the rapport: "The attention of international politics in the long-term will be concentrated on the acquisition of energy resources."
At present Russian gas makes up a quarter of the total European gas supply. The international scramble for cheap and available energy resources is intensifying more than ever.
Russia, Brazil, the US, India, China and the European Union are the biggest players. Some are big consumers, others big suppliers. Whatever the case, all of us want to remain big and strong.
But the time has come to break out of this deadly grip of co-dependency.
The time has come to innovate and create.
The time has come for renewable energy (RE).
The climate crisis and the credit crunch are forcing us to transform our societies. We must seize the opportunity. For guidance, we can look to our neighbour in the east.
Germany is taking big strides towards the mass-consumption of RE. The German feed-in system - the Law on Renewable Energy - laid down the framework conditions for rapid growth of RE resources in Germany during the 21st century.
The feed-in system guarantees RE producers a fixed price per kWh fed into the grid. It has tripled the amount of renewable energy since 2000. The leading renewable energy source in 2006 - wind power - provided some 5 percent of total electricity production.
Of its total energy consumption in 2007, 10 percent was renewable. The RE market grossed a total of 25 billion euros that year and supplied jobs to a quarter million people. Regarding sustainable energy, Germany plays a leading role on the world stage.
Look and learn is the maxim for the Dutch.
But we are not standing idly by.
We are implementing a system similar to the German feed-in with one difference: we shall put a cap on the subsidies and thus maximise the amount of money spent.
In addition we are speeding up the development and placement of 500 Megawatt of offshore wind turbines.
School and hospitals will receive money to take measures to lessen energy bills. Citizens of public-owned housing will receive 320 million for the same purpose.
Besides speeding up certain procedures to realise sustainable projects, 438 million euros is being put towards innovation. Amongst many others, this has already led to the 'glasshouse as local energy supplier'-project.
The Cabinet has and is taking measures to support local climate initiatives. Via subsidies and co-operating with provincial authorities, city councils and businesses.
The city of Amsterdam is transforming its power grid from dumb to smart. Instead of the usual one-way-traffic formula, the smart grid allows households to supply energy. Energy neutral homes pumping power back into the community for others to use.
To our south, Veenendaal is starting it's own energy company because it finds exsisting companies are too expensive.
A great way for locals to get more involved with their own energy supply and save money.
Before the summer, the Cabinet shall hand over the Agenda on Innovation to the Council of Ministers. The total agenda involves more than 430 million euro's. For the development of climate-neutral cities we reserved 7 million euro's.
There are many more examples, but for time's sake, I shall limit myself to these.
The great paradox of our times is that to be able to stay independent, we must work together.
The oil and gas reserves are depleting rapidly.
We must kick our oil habit.
It's time for the world to go into rehab.
But before we do, I'd like to introduce a very special guest. He is the driving force behind Germany's successful feed-in energy policy. A member of the German parliament and president of the European Association for Renewable Energy (Eurosolar).
He believes the only obstacle to a sustainable society is political. He is the author of three books on energy and solar power. It is with great pleasure that I introduce Hermann Scheer.