One of the more interesting events during my recent journalist trip to Germany was a breakfast meeting with Hans-Josef Fell. Fell is a member in the German Parliament, a leader of the Green Party in Germany (Alliance 90/The Greens), and vice president of EuroSolar.
Fell was instrumental in creating the Renewable Sources Act (EEG) in Germany, a driving force in the country’s aggressive drive toward renewable energy development. The EEG’s principal tool is the feed-in tariff, where access to the grid is given priority to producers of renewable energy at a set rate over a pre-determined period of time.
For Fell, there is “no economic future for fossil energy,” calling for what is essentially the end of the Carbon Age. I’ve just posted an article EcoWorldy about his comments last month in Berlin.