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Contributions from
the Column
InWEnt Forum
German vocational training in global competition
Megacity governance
Energy policy in the USA
02/2007 |
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[ Renewable energy sources ]
Rethink in the US
US politician Ellen Anderson is impressed: “It has taken Germany 30 years to get where it is today in terms of the environment, technology and energy policy”. As a member of the respective Minnesota State Senate committees, the dynamic Democrat is directly concerned with environmental and energy issues. She believes the United States should “learn from Germany’s experience and expertise” and not to stay opposed to global policy-making. In her state legislature, Senator Anderson brought about a decision that commits Minnesota to meeting a fifth of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020.
In other US states, too, open-minded politicians have long been looking at Germany with interest. The Governor of Pennsylvania, Edward Rendell, has signed a cooperation agreement on renewable energy with the government of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The fruits of that cooperation, he insists, will help to provide “clean energy both for our residents and businesses and for the world at large”. To boost the share of advanced technologies to 18 % of total energy consumption in his state by 2019, he wants to harness wind, solar and bio-energy and also make existing power stations more efficient. All state institutions that are answerable to Rendell have already been told to ensure that 10 % of their electricity comes from alternative sources.
German engineers and companies can help to meet such targets. Jens Baganz, state secretary at the NRW-Ministry for Economic Affairs calls Rendell’s goals “ambitious” and sees “great opportunities for political and private-sector cooperation”. In NRW, environmental technology long ago became a key sector in an economy that used to be dominated by coal and steel. Today, “green” technologies contribute to shaping Governor Rendell’s perceptions of NRW as “Germany’s leading industrial state”.
At any rate, there is now a growing awareness on the other side of the Atlantic that a change in energy policy is needed. This is partly due to climate change, which makes superstorms like Katrina, the hurricane that devastated New Orleans, increasingly likely. But security concerns also play a role. The military debacle in Iraq has made abundantly clear how risky it is for whole economies to depend on oil imports. And, of course, rising energy prices also prompt growing interest in alternative sources.
InWEnt supports this environmental rethink worldwide. It is a positive sign that interest in exchange and cooperation is growing internationally – and it goes without saying that US partners are welcome in this context. In December, for example, InWEnt got together with the German Foreign Office, Heinrich Böll Foundation and CDS International to take experts from 11 US states on a fact-finding mission to Germany.
The aim was to promote transatlantic dialogue and foster the development of networks in politics, business and education. The guests visited renewable-energy firms, environmental agencies, research institutes and model projects in NRW and Freiburg.
Political talks were held mainly with the NWR-Ministries of the Environment and Economic Affairs. In the state-capital Düsseldorf, the Americans’ visit kicked off with a conference headlined “Opportunities in the US Energy Market”, an event staged to mark the start of the partnership with Pennsylvania.
However, exchange and cooperation need not be confined to Democrats. California’s Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, similarly enjoys flexing his environmental muscles. In his state-of-the-union speech last month, even President George Bush started modifying his hands-off stance. (dem)
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