The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future

The world WILL transition to a global solar economy and Sheer will be one of the primary architects. We see his vision has already taken root in Germany. This is very heady, very forward thinking. It's rather like the Bible in one respect: it tells you point blank what to do but it's so deep and so profound you have to read it over and over to get the full meaning. I'm on my second reading of the book. There's paragraphs I've read 10 times. Sheer is a genius. I wish I were too then I could master it quicker and start to help build the solar economy.John Patterson "Mr. Sun" and author of "FOOTPRINT: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Extinction"

I wish I had read this book in 2008 before I launched my Renewable Energy business. I would have done things very differently. There are so many things going on that one needs to know about. Some examples include: governments produce strategy "white papers" which give policy direction, sometimes including renewable energy, but the energy monopolies in some countries put so much legislation and red-tape in the way that the policy cannot be implemented. This has happened in South Africa and Italy, for example. Governments and business do "green washing" ie saying one thing whilst doing another. It is essential to see progress on the ground before actioning business plans. This doesn't mean that social campaigns can't take place. Hermann Scheer points out the "myth of the fossilised fuel industry" and how one can overcome it.

The first time I tried to read this book, it confused me so much I had to put it down for a year. The author mixes a paragraph or two of insight and vision within pages of example and data. On, this my second, read I am doing better by skimming past the long lists of examples.I would love to see this book boiled down to about 20 pages, with another 20 of optional documentation.What the author does for the reader is lay out the foundation of the modern energy system, and its hidden costs. In great detail. Then he addresses the technical aspect of several different forms of "solar" or renewable energy technologies, and their potential.I am learning quite a bit, even if I have to take it in small doses

This book passed its way through the family from one home to the next. Everyone took a look at it. Would recommend it as a great conversation starter (especially with awkward family gatherings).

Wish Hermann was still alive. Start a FiT in your town today! Read The Energy Imperative after this one. Economic Genius!

Hermann Scheer has written the most important book of the 21st Century. Yes, that's right -- either we follow this path to a sustainable future, or it is the path not taken as we head into a cycle of civilizational decline, chaos and devastation. The #1 priority in the U.S. right now is regime change -- the Bush/Cheney Regime is dead-set against renewable energy. But in the medium term, a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, centered on solar energy, is humanity's #1 priority. Scheer has masterfully critiqued the fossil fuel status quo and outlined what needs to be done in this powerful, technically-based, yet compelling manifesto for change. This is one book on energy that will not put you to sleep! There is far too much here to summarize, but here are a few critical points: 1) The conventional wisdom that says solar and other renewables are too expensive are systematically biased by both the current massive subsidies for fossil fuels and what is left out in calculating the cost of fossil fuels. All it will take to drive down the cost of PV (photovoltaic solar) is ramping up production. Of course massive investment in R&D is also urgently needed to realize greater efficiency. (Scheer is well-equipped for this analysis -- his Ph.D. is in economics.) 2) Fossil fuels of necessity require long supply chains, as they do not occur everywhere, and this entails both inefficiency and higher cost. Solar, wind, biomass and other renewables can be developed locally just about anywhere -- solar energy in principle needs no supply chain at all. The development of a decentralized renewable energy system globally will, in addition to being environmentally sustainable, ultimately be much cheaper than the current centralized fossil fuel system. 3) The battle is already on -- Scheer (an SPD Member of Parliament in Germany) and others have successfully passed legislation in Germany and elsewhere mandating that the electricity grid buy power from locally generated renewable sources. This is a revolutionary reform that has yet to be realized in the U.S., but it is coming, with wind power leading the way. Do not believe any sweeping claim about the costs and benefits of renewable energy -- increasing numbers of us can benefit starting now, but there will clearly be losers, and that will include the powerful fossil fuel corporations that don't join the process (BP and Shell are already starting to hedge their bets). It is going to be a fight, a revolution as sweeping as any yet in human existence, comparable only to the shift to agriculture and the shift to industrial manufacturing. What is needed is a mass movement that works on all levels to bring about the change. Hermann Scheer's THE SOLAR ECONOMY is the manifesto and guide for this movement. For the moment, Europe is clearly in the lead. We in the U.S. need to catch up quickly and start to build a new front inside the U.S. Leviathan -- planetary change will not work if the U.S., the 3rd most populous country and the largest consumer of energy and everything else, does not join the process.If we want to demonstrate that having evolved such large brains is really an advantage, we have to start using them. The future is clear -- it's either barbarism or a solar economy!(verified purchase from the Cosmic Book Emporium)

Das Buch hat mich sehr gefallen, besonders das vergangenheit und zukünftige Blick aufs die Wirchaftlichkeit der Sonnenenergie. Ich würde jeder interessanter das Buch empfehlen.