Scheer Solar Economy Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future (Earthscan, 2005)

THE VISIBLE HAND OF THE SUN 323

aggression, in part because the environmental dangers that now threaten us will have been averted. The only remaining question is how people spend their free time – and the answer will come not from legislation, not from market rules, and not from energy systems or technology, but rather from traditions, cultural norms, the human capacity for education and social interaction, and from the cultural achievements of society.

From the bounty of the sun to global economic prosperity

The Earth is rich, and it owes its wealth to the sun. That this wealth is today more often burnt than used and preserved for the future is the greatest economic nonsense imaginable. And then to call this destruction of resources ‘economic growth’ makes a mockery of the phrase. This is not economic growth, but economic destruction, and it leads not to Adam Smith’s ‘wealth of nations’, but rather to Elmar Altvater’s ‘poverty of nations’.6

The fundamental problem with today’s global economy is not globalization per se, but that this globalization is not based on the sun – the only global force that is equally available to all and whose bounty is so great that it need never be fully tapped. Only with solar in place of fossil energy can the world reach the pinnacle of its potential. As long as economic progress depends on resources found only in a few regions, there will inevitably be increasingly bitter conflicts in which national interests will come before the interests of the planet, national economies before the economy as a whole, short-term before long-term interests and individuals and companies before society. The global hierarchies that have grown and continue to grow out of fossil energy supplies stand in the way of a new era in which people can make as close to an independent living as can be achieved, and in which people can make their contribution to global output according to the measure of their ability and need. The existing hierarchies, however, are ironing out economic and cultural differences, depriving the world of its vibrant diversity. Cultural destitution is following hard on the heels of its economic twin.

324 THE SOLAR ECONOMY

It is because the global flow of fossil resources has for a long time been widening the scope of possibility and opportunity for increasing numbers of people in the industrialized nations that people now fail to see that the same resource flow now has the opposite effect, narrowing the range of opportunities for increasing numbers of people, and ultimately for everybody. Global resource conflict, environmental catastrophe, fossil energy prices that are unaffordable for most of the world’s population, the economic crises to come as supplies dwindle – all these put the world in grave danger of turning back the clock. Hard-won achievements of civilization may be lost: the UN and international law, international treaties, the global economy itself. The most likely consequence of the struggle to control dwindling fossil reserves is a deep decline in the global economy, leading ultimately to the fall of global civilization itself.

The solar global economy makes possible a new global division of labour. Each national economy exploits the resources directly afforded them by the sun, resources that noone can take away; all other needs are satisfied by the free interaction of supply and demand. Only in this way can the rich diversity of global culture be maintained and revitalized, or further developed through mutual enrichment.

The globalization process is a roller-coaster ride driven by fossil fuels. The faster it goes, the more frightening and bruising a ride it is for human passengers and the natural world alike. Dwindling numbers of people are able to climb aboard, while growing proportions are tossed out of the carriage. By contrast, the new division of labour in the solar global economy to come encompasses a whole variety of swings and roundabouts, some small, some large, all offering a much calmer ride, much less violent to – and more under the control of – their passengers. There will always be room for more attractions, with plenty of space for all comers. The solar global economy affords much greater freedom and scope for the productive use of technology because of the countless individual practical applications that, in combination with the immediate availability of the sun’s power, it makes possible. Technology will no longer be the preserve of the few, who use it to impose techno-

THE VISIBLE HAND OF THE SUN 325

cratic constraints on everybody. The universal accessibility of technology will open the floodgates for many more new ideas and innovative applications. Growing numbers of independent producers and more diverse resource use will give rise to a whole range of new products. The solar global economy is an economy that does not wantonly destroy its resources, and which is thus free of constraints on its development.

By taking hold of the visible hand of the sun and producing from sustainable resources, the world remains close to the land, and its inhabitants meet in a freer and more just environment. From riches for the few, be they individuals, companies or societies, will increasingly come wealth for all, more justly and more equally distributed. Renewable resources will bring a new era of wealth-creating economic development, initiated not by bureaucratic fiat, but by the free choices of individuals.

References

Scenario

1Arthur Koestler: The Ghost in the Machine. New York: The Macmillan Company 1968

2Frederick Soddy: Matter and Energy. 1912, cited in Gerald Foley: The Energy Question. London: Penguin Books 1989

3P S Dasgupta and G M Heal: Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources. Cambridge: Cambridge Economic Handbooks 1995, pp469 et seq

4Jürgen Habermas: Technik und Wissenschaft als Ideologie (Science and Technology as Ideology). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1968, p90

5Hans Immler: Welche Wirtschaft braucht die Natur? (What Sort of Economy does Nature Need?) Frankfurt am Main: S Fischer 1993, p26

6Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek: Das MIPS-Konzept. Weniger Naturverbrauch – mehr Lebensqualität durch Faktor 10 (The MISU (Material Input per Service Unit) Concept: reduced consumption and enhanced quality of life with Factor 10). Munich: Droemer 1998, p55

7Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Amory B Lovins and L Hunter Lovins:

Factor 4: doubling wealth – halving resource use. The new report to the Club of Rome. London: Earthscan 1997

8Hanns Maull: Raw Material, Energy and Western Security. London: Macmillan Press 1984

9Hans Kronberger: Blut für Öl. Der Kampf um die Ressourcen (Blood for Oil: the battle for natural resources). Vienna: Uranus Verlag 1998

10Michio Kaku: Visions : how science will revolutionize the 21st century. New York: Bantam Books 1998

11Gregory Stock: Metaman: the merging of humans and machines into a global superorganism. New York: Simon & Schuster 1993

12Jeremy Rifkin: Biosphere Politics: a cultural odyssey from the Middle Ages to the New Age. New York: Crown 1991

13Wilhelm Fucks: Formeln zur Macht. Prognosen über Völker, Wirtschaft, Potentiale (The Formula for Power : the future of nations and economies). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1965

14Global 2000 (Report to President Carter). Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office 1980

15Werner Müller: Des Feuers Macht (The Power of Fire). Herne: Heitkamp1986, pp110 et seq

16The extract is taken from the English edition of 1888

REFERENCES 327

17Jan Ross: ‘Stunde der Politik’ (The Hour of the Politicians). Die Zeit 42 1998

18David C Korten: When Corporations Rule the World. London: Earthscan 1995, pp119–181

19Oskar Lafontaine and Christa Müller: No Fear of Globalisation: welfare and work for all. London: Verso Books, in preparation

20Edward Goldsmith: The Way: an ecological world view. Dartington: Foxhole 1996, pp445 et seq

21Francis Bacon: New Atlantis (first published 1627)

22Victor C Ferkiss: Nature, Technology, and Society: the cultural roots of the current environmental crisis. New York: New York University Press 1993, pp105–118

23François Quesnay: Maximes générales du gouvernement économique d’un royaume agricole (General Principles for the Economic Administ-ration of an Agricultural Kingdom) (first published 1758)

24Hermann Scheer: Zurück zur Politik (Back to Politics). Bochum: Verlag Ponte Press 1998 (2nd edition), pp197 et seq

25Hermann Scheer: A Solar Manifesto: the need for a total solar energy supply – and how to achieve it. London: James & James 1994, 2nd edition 2001

26Carl Amery: Die Botschaft des Jahrtausends: Von Leben, Tod und Würde

(Message for the Millennium: of life, death and dignity). Munich: List-Verlag 1994, p177

27European Commission: Communication from the Commission. Energy for the Future: renewable sources of energy. White Paper for a community strategy and action plan. 1997, document number COM (97) 599 final. Brussels: European Commission

28Hermann Fischer and Hanswerner Mackwitz: ‘Erneuerbare Rohstoffe, Solare Materialien : das zweite Schlüsselelement einer solaren Alternative’ (Renewable Materials, Solar Materials: the second key element of a solar alternative). Solarzeitalter no 21 1995, pp31 et seq

29Carl Amery: Hitler als Vorläufer. Auschwitz : der Beginn des 21 Jahrhunderts

(Foretaste of the Future: Hitler, Auschwitz and the beginning of the 21st century). Munich: Luchterhand Literaturverlag 1998

30Donald Worster: The Wealth of Nature: environmental history and the ecological imagination. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press 1993

Part I

Chapter 1

1Jean-Claude Debeir, Jean-Paul Deleage and Daniel Hémery: In the Servitude of Power: energy and civilisation through the ages. London/ Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books 1991

2Vaclav Smil: Energy in World History. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press 1994

328 THE SOLAR ECONOMY

3Ralf-Peter Sieferle: Der unterirdische Wald. Energiekrise und industrielle Revolution (The Subterranean Forest: energy crises and industrial revolution). Munich: C H Beck 1982

4World Resources Institute: Resource Flows: the material basis of industrial economies. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute 1997, pp33 et seq

5European Commission 1997 (see Scenario, note 27)

6Ugo Bilardo and Giuseppe Mureddu: Energy, Raw Materials for Industry and International Cooperation. Rome: ENEL 1989, p26

7Helge Hveem: ‘Minerals as a Factor in Strategic Policy and Action’. In: Arthur H Westing: Global Resources and International Conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1986, p61

8Bilardo and Mureddu 1989 (see note 6 ), p217

9Energy and Defense Project: Dispersed, Decentralized and Renewable Energy Sources: alternatives to national vulnerability and war. Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) December 1980, p6

10Anthony Sampson: The Seven Sisters: the great oil companies and the world they made. Dunton Green: Hodder and Stoughton 1993

11Markus Timmler: ‘Was UNCTAD ist und sein könnte’ (What UNCTAD Is and Could Be). Orientierungen zur Wirtschaftsund Gesellschaftspolitik no 33 March 1987, pp55 et seq

12Mohssen Massarrat: Endlichkeit der Natur und Überfluß in der Marktökonomie

(The Limitations of Nature and Affluence in Market Economies). Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag 1993

13K Ballod-Atlanticus: Der Zukunftsstaat. Produktion und Konsum im Sozialstaat (The Future State: production and consumption in the welfare state). Stuttgart: Dietz 1920

14Nikolaus Eckardt, Margitta Meinerzhagen and Ulrich Jochimsen: Die Stromdiktatur. Von Hitler ermächtigt : bis heute ungebrochen (The Electricity Dictatorship : enabled by Hitler and unbroken to this day). Hamburg: Rasch und Röhring 1985

15Thomas B Hughes: Networks of Power: electrification in western society.

Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press 1983

16Eugene D Cross: Electricity Utility Regulation in the European Union.

Chichester: Wiley 1996, pp21 et seq

17Lutz Metz and Rainer Osnowski: RWE. Ein Riese mit Ausstrahlung (RWE : an influencial giant). Cologne: Kiepenheuer und Witsch 1996

18Daniel M Berman and John T O’Connor: Who Owns the Sun?. White River Junction: Chelsea Green 1996, p65

19Oleg W Britwin: ‘Die Reform der russischen Stromwirtschaft : neue Möglichkeiten der Kooperation’ (Reforming the Russian Energy Sector: new horizons for cooperation). In: Andrei Kuxenko/Friedemann Müller (eds): Deutsch-russische Energiekooperation unter Globalisierungsdruck (Russo-German Energy-Sector Cooperation in the Globalised Market). Ebenhausen: Stiffung Wissenschaft und Politik 1998, pp39 et seq

REFERENCES 329

20Attilio Bisio, Sharon Boots and Paula Siegel (eds): The Wiley Encyclopedia of Energy and the Environment. New York: Wiley 1997, p1262

21Paul Ehrlich, Ann Ehrlich and John Holdren: Ecoscience. San Francisco: W H Freeman 1979, p416

22Bilardo and Mureddu 1989 (see note 6)

23World Energy Council: Energy for Tomorrow’s World. New York: St Martin’s Press 1993, p102

24ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung: ifo Investitionsberichte: Erhebung 1997/98. Öffentliche Elektrizitätsversorgung (ifo Investment Reports 1997/98: electricity supplies). Munich: ifo 1998

25ifo Insitut für Wirtschaftsforschung: ifo Schnelldienst no 32 1998, p13

26Armin Witt: Unterdrückte Entdeckungen und Erfindungen (Supressed Inventions and Discoveries). Frankfurt: Ullstein-Verlag 1993

27European Commission: Working Document of the Commission: Summary of the Results of the Public Consultation on the Green Paper on the Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology Sectors; Areas for Further Reflection.

Document reference: SEC (98) 1284

Chapter 2

1Scheer 2001 (see Scenario, note 25), pp89 et seq

2Kulsum Ahmed: Renewable Energy Technologies: on status and costs of selected technologies. World Bank Technical Paper no 240 (Energy Series). Washington, DC: World Bank 1994

3David O Hall and Frank Rosillo-Calle: ‘Biomass: a future renewable carbon feedstock for energy’. In: V N Parman, H Tributsch, A Bridgwater and D O Hall: Chemistry for the Energy Future. Oxford: Blackwell Science 1999, pp101 et seq, 109, 118

4A Strehler: ‘Energie aus Biomasse’ (Energy from Biomass). EnergieDialog no 3/4 1991

5Hall and Rosillo-Calle 1999 (see note 3)

6Harry Lehmann and Thorsten Reetz: Zukunftsenergien. Strategien einer neuen Energiepolitik (Future Energies: strategies for a new energy policy). Berlin: Birkenhäuser Verlag 1995

7Wolfgang Voigt: ‘Weltmacht Atlantropa’ (The Transatlantic Superpower). Die Zeit 23 1991

8Yukinori Kuwano: ‘Photovoltaic Electricity: an industrial perspective’. In: Helmar Krupp: Energy Politics and Schumpeter Dynamics. Tokyo: Springer-Verlag 1992, pp202–205

9‘Solar Energy and Space’. World Summit. UNESCO: Paris 1993

10Franz Alt: Die Sonne schickt uns keine Rechnung (The sun sends no bills). Munich: Piper 1994

330 THE SOLAR ECONOMY

Part II

Chapter 3

1Samuel P Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster 1996

2International Energy Agency: World Energy Outlook 1998. Paris: International Energy Agency 1998

3Stockholm Environment Institute: Global Energy in the 21st Century: patterns, projections and problems. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute 1995, p29

4Global 2000 (see Scenario, note 14), pp387 et seq

5Jörg Schindler and Werner Zittel: ‘Wie lange reicht das billige Öl?’ (How Long will Cheap Oil Last?). Scheidewege. Jahresschrift für skeptisches Denken (Crossroads. Journal for Sceptical Thinking) 1998–1999, pp320 et seq

6Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), unpublished paper. Hanover: BGR 1999

7Colin J Campell: The Coming Oil Crises. Petroconsultants: Geneva 1997

8Günter Eickhoff and Hilmer Rempel: ‘Weltreserven und ressourcen beim Energierohstoff Erdgas’ (Global Reserves and Resources for the Energy Source Natural Gas). Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen (Topics in Energy Economics) 1995, pp709 et seq

9International Energy Agency: Coal Information. Paris: International Energy Agency 1993, pp138 et seq

10World Energy Council: Energy for Tomorrow’s World. New York: St Martin’s Press 1998, p90

11Jochen Diekmann et al: ‘Fossile Energieträger und erneuerbare Energiequellen’ (Fossil Fuels and Renewable Energy Sources).

Monographien des Forschungszentrum Jülich vol 25 1995, p113

12Klaus Traube and Hermann Scheer: ‘Kernspaltung, Kernfusion, Sonnenenergie : Stadien eines Lernprozesses’ (Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Fusion, Solar Energy : stages of a learning process).

Solarzeitalter no 2 1998, p22 et seq

13Friedrich-Wilhem Wellmer: ‘Lebensdauer und Verfügbarkeit mineralischer Rohstoffe’ (Duration and Availability of Mineral Resources). In: J Zemann (ed): Energievorräte und mineralische Rohstoffe: wie lange noch? (Energy Supplies and Mineral Resources: How much longer?). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1998, pp47 et seq

14F William Engdahl: Mit der Ölwaffe zur Weltmacht : Der Weg zur neuen Weltordnung (Playing the Oil Card to Become a Superpower: the road to a new world order). Wiesbaden: Böttiger Verlag 1997 (3rd edition), pp244 et seq

15Gabriele Venzky: ‘Kampf ums Öl’ (The Struggle for Oil). Die Zeit 43 1998

REFERENCES 331

16Bartholomäus Grill and Caroline Dumay: ‘Der Söldner-Konzern’ (The Mercenary Corporation). Die Zeit 4 1997

17Zbigniew Brzezinski: The Grand Chessboard: American primacy and its geostrategic imperatives. New York: Basic Books 1997

18‘Apocalypse soon in Minerals’. Defense Week 22 September 1980

19Donald E Fink: ‘Availability of Strategic Materials’. Aviation Week and Space Technology 5 May 1990

20Gernot Erler: Global Monopoly. Weltpolitik nach dem Ende der Sowjetunion

(Global Monopoly: World politics following the collapse of the Soviet Union). Berlin: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag 1998, pp86 et seq

21Kronberger 1998 (see Scenario, note 9), pp141 et seq

22All data taken from: International Energy Agency: Energy Statistics and Balances of Non-OECD Countries. Paris: International Energy Agency 1998

23Günter Mohrmann: ‘Der Kampf um die knappen Wasserressourcen. Krieg um knappes Wasser?’ (The Struggle for Scarce Water Supplies. A war fought for water?). In: Hans Krech: Vom II. Golfkrieg zur GolfFriedenskonferenz (From the Second Gulf War to the Gulf Peace Conference). Bremen: Edition Temmen 1996, pp367 et seq

24Fritz R Glunk (ed): Das MAI und die Herrschaft der Konzerne (The MAI and Corporate Domination). Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1998

25William D Heffernan and Douglas H Constance: ‘Transnational Corporation and the Globalization of the Food System’. In: Alessandro Bonanno et al: From Columbus to Con Agra. Kansas City: University Press of Kansas 1994, pp29 et seq

26Harald Maass: ‘Ein mächtiger Sturm kündigt sich leise an’ (Silent Heralds of a Mighty Storm). Frankfurter Rundschau 16 March 1999

27Samir Amin: Empire of Chaos. New York: Monthly Review Press 1992

Chapter 4

1Rolf Peter Sieferle: ‘Energie’ (Energy). In: Franz-Josef Brüggemeier and Thomas Rommelspacher: Besiegte Natur (Nature Conquered). Munich: C H Beck 1987, p32

2UNCHS (Habitat): An Urbanizing World: global report on human settlements.

Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996

3Dieter Schott: Energie und Stadt in Europa. Von der vorindustriellen Holznot« bis zur Ölkrise der 70er Jahre (Energy and Cities in Europe: From the Pre-industrial Wood Shortage to the Oil Shock of the 70s). Stuttgart: F Steiner 1997, p31

4Smil 1994 (see Chapter 1, note 2), pp208 et seq

5Otto Königer: Die Konstruktionen in Eisen (Building with Iron). Leipzig: Gerhardts Verlag 1902 (new edition, Hanover 1993)

6Helmut Tributsch: ‘Wohnen mit der Sonne’ (Living with the Sun). Solarzeitalter no 2 1991, pp22–30

332 THE SOLAR ECONOMY

7Sophie Behling and Stefan Behling: Sol Power: The Evolution of Solar Architecture. Munich: Prestel-Verlag 1996

8Le Corbusier: The Athens Charter. New York: Grossman Publishers 1973

9Michael Mönninger: ‘Stadt statt Staat. Illusionen von Globalund Mega-Cities’ (City, not State: The illusions of global and megacities). IZ3W May/June 1999, pp21 et seq

10Hartmut Häußermann: ‘Die selbstzerstörerische Sehnsucht nach der Global City’ (The Self-Destructive Yearning for the Global City).

Frankfurter Rundschau 22 May 1999

11Michael Knoll and Rolf Kreibich: Solar City. Sonnenenergie für die lebenswerte Stadt (Solar City: Solar energy for healthy cities). Weinheim: Beltz-Verlag 1992

12Cities for the Future: dream or nightmare? Panos Briefing no 34. London: Panos June 1999, pp4 et seq

13Idriss Jazairy, Mohiuddin Alamgir and Theresa Panuccio: The State of World Rural Poverty. London: IT Publications 1992, p2

14Birgit Rheims: ‘Migration und Flucht’ (Migration and Refugees). In: Ingomar Hauchler, Dirk Messner and Franz Nuschler: Globale Trends 1998 (Global Trends 1998). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1997, pp97 et seq

15Axelle Kabou: Et si l’Afrique refusait le développement? (What if Africa Says No to Development Aid?). Paris: L’Harmattan 1991

16Winrich Kühne: The Great Lakes Region Crisis: Improving African and international capabilities for preventing and resolving violent conflicts. Ebenhausen: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik 1997

17Walt Rostow: The Stages of Economic Growth: a non-communist manifesto. 1960 (3rd edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1994)

18Scheer 2001 (see Scenario, note 25), pp41 et seq

19Chengdu Biogas Research Institute: The Biogas Technology in China. Beijing: China Agricultural Publishing House 1989

20Peter Oesterdiekhoff: Dimensionen der Energiekrise in Afrika südlich der Sahara (The Extent of the Energy Crisis in sub-Saharan Africa). Energy and Development Discussion Papers Series. Bremen: Institut für Weltwirtschaft und Internationales Management 1991, pp12 et seq

21L Mohapeloa: ‘The Case of Lesotho’. In: M R Bhagavan and S Karekezi: Energy Management in Africa. London: Zed Books 1992, pp9 et seq

22Cheryl Payer: The World Bank: a critical analysis. New York: Monthly Review Press 1982, pp101 et seq

23Michael Tanzer: The Energy Crisis. New York: Monthly Review Press 1974, p108

24Payer 1982 (see note 22), pp186 et seq

25Daphne Wysham: The World Bank and the G7: changing the earth’s climate for business. Washington, DC: Institute for Policy Studies 1997