The German solar fairy tale and the lateral thinkers
Why and how did German solar enthusiasts help solar energy achieve a global breakthrough? Why has the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) become the most successful law for the global energy transition? Why is solar power now the cheapest and fastest growing energy source worldwide and the basis for a more peaceful, fairer and climate-friendly world without future energy wars and without any violation of the laws of nature?
The secret of success: About 50 years ago, clever scientists such as Adolf Götzberger from the Fraunhofer Institute, committed left-wing and conservative politicians such as Hermann Scheer (SPD), Hans Josef Fell and Michaele Hustedt (Greens), Klaus Töpfer (CDU), Herbert Gruhl (ÖDP) and Josef Göppel (CSU), and forward-thinking entrepreneurs such as Georg Salvamoser and Karl-Heinz Remmers, the solar companies in Thalheim and solar architect Rolf Disch began to work together.
The future belongs to the sun
What united these lateral thinkers was their concern for our future. They made the seemingly impossible possible. It was the time after Chernobyl and the time when the world understood what climate change had in store for us. It was a time when ideological and party political differences became secondary. The most important thing was the realisation that the future belongs to the sun.
All these unconventional thinkers and doers dreamed the dream of the solar age and the dream of a solar world revolution. These pioneers recognised that the sun provides us with ten thousand times more energy than the entire human race currently consumes and that solar energy is a gift from heaven: free, climate-friendly, reliable worldwide and available for several billion years to come. What more could we want?
The book Deutsches Sonnenmärchen (German Solar Fairy Tale) has just been published, in which Michael Bukowski describes this success story in relatively sun-deprived Germany in a wonderful and convincing way. The book is written from the perspective of a successful, rather conservative solar entrepreneur. And today, on 15 November, a commentary by Peter Unfried appeared in the rather left-wing TAZ newspaper with the headline „Warum braucht Klimaschutz mehr Kapitalismus?“ | ‘Why does climate protection need more capitalism?’
Both publications make it clear that the issue of humanity’s survival is not about party politics or ideological blinders, but about the future of us all. This future needs more lateral thinkers, i.e. independent, intelligent minds who think intensively about the future.
Climate protection naturally needs capital, and capital naturally needs climate protection, because without climate protection there will be no good business in the future.
A solar civilisation is the prerequisite for our survival on this planet. Left-wing or right-wing politics are yesterday’s buzzwords. The future must be renewable. Today, the whole world is looking to Germany’s solar success story, which began in the last century. That is why the millions of people in China and India, but also many countries in Africa and Latin America, are now on the solar path and on the way to a solar world revolution.
Two examples: Costa Rica now produces 99 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, Kenya 95 per cent. Hopefully, these pioneering countries will also shape the discussions and outcomes of the 30th World Climate Conference in Belém on the Amazon. They are writing the most important success story for future generations: the solar energy transition is possible and necessary.
The world is currently full of bad, dark and catastrophic news. But who lights up the world every morning? That’s right – the sun.
- Franz Alt „Die solare Weltrevolution“ – Aufbruch in eine neue Menschheitsepoche | HERDER 2025
- Michael Bukowski, Karl-Heinz Remmers (Hrsg.): „Deutsches Sonnenmärchen“ – Wie wir die Solarenergie zum weltweiten Erfolg gemacht haben | Leseprobe (PDF) | oekom verlag 2025
Source
Franz Alt 2025| Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
