Sustainable Energy Policies for Europe—Towards 100% Renewable Energy

"The discussion about energy perspectives beyond 2020, up to 2030 and eventually 2050, has started. There seems to be a verbal consensus about the necessity of ambitious climate change mitigation policies, without a convincing perspective of the necessary policy decisions to be achieved in due time. Solutions for greenhouse gas reduction as well as for energy security vary from aiming at 100% renewable energies and setting up appropriate policy frameworks to a mix of renewables with so-called clean fossil and nuclear energy. This book provides an analysis of the different approaches and the reasons why there is no sustainable alternative to aiming at 100% renewables -- and how this vision could come true. The book provides an overview and in-depth analysis of a vital debate. It describes how the present policy framework with 2020-targets for the share of renewables, for increase of energy efficiency and for greenhouse gas emissions reduction was developed and how it was implemented so far. Further, it describes and analyses the emerging debate about the future of our energy system, and about necessary next steps and targets towards 2030"--

Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes is the President of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the umbrella organisation of the European renewable energy sector based in Brussels. He is the President of EREC’s member association, the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), the voice of independent producers of energy from renewable sources, and he is a Board Member and the spokesperson for European and International Affairs of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), the national umbrella organisation of the renewable energy sector. He is closely engaged in European policy development for renewable energies in the European Union as well as in his home country, keeping close contacts with government representatives, parliamentarians, European Commission and other stakeholders. He has delivered speeches and presentations and participated in panel discussions all over the world.
He is a Member of the Renewable Energy Industry Advisory Board (RIAB) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and a Member of the Steering Committee of the global Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). He is also a Member of the WREN-Council, the advisory structure of the World Renewable Energy Network/Congress.
From November 1998 to December 2005, he was a Director General in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in charge of renewable energies, climate protection and various other dossiers. He was one of the two chairmen of the International Steering Committee preparing the first IREC, the renewables2004 in Bonn. After the conference, until he left the ministry at the end of 2005, he served as BMU’s representative and a founding co-chair and later a member of the Bureau of REN21.

Christine Lins
Executive Secretary, Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21^st Century (REN21), Paris, France

Jan Geiss
Secretary General, European Forum of Parliamentarians for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES), Brussels, Belgium

Thorsten Muller
President, Stiftung Umweltenergierecht (Foundation Environmental Energy Law), Wurzburg, Germany

Markus Kahles
Stiftung Umweltenergierecht (Foundation Environmental Energy Law), Wurzburg, Germany