US Journalists Get First Hand-Look at Germany's Energy Policies in Action
A group of eight US journalists and two Canadians participated in a study tour in Germany focused on climate, environment and renewable energies. The trip highlighted advances in energy efficiency in housing and modern drive technologies, emissions trading, and international cooperation. Other topics included the impact of renewable energies on business opportunities and on jobs.
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Among the places journalists visited was a biogas facility. This one is located in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
(© picture-alliance/dpa)
The trip in December 2008 gave participants a first-hand impression of how active Germany is in these fields. The journalists met with governement officials and experts and visited a plant producing solar energy modules, a factory for wind turbines, a wind farm, as well as a biogas factory.
Publisher Andy Brack
"Europe and America have pursued strikingly different energy strategies since the energy crisis of the late 1970s," writes Andy Brack, publisher of SC Statehouse Report and CharlestonCurrents.com, who traveled to Germany as part of a group of journalists on a week-long study tour focused on renewable energy and climate. "Europeans, however, took the energy scare seriously," he wrote in SC Statehouse Report. "Germans started investing in solar technologies. The Dutch started working to modernize use of wind to power turbines to make electricity. Politicians in multiple parties realized getting new supplies of energy that didn't dry up was important. A 'green' culture developed that became the status quo of today."
The trip, which coincided with the Christmas season, even helped Brack find the holiday spirit. "In meetings with federal government officials, corporate bigwigs and nonprofit officials, Germans were keen and upbeat about their work and economy, the world's third largest," Brack wrote in CharlestonCurrents.com.
Read more about Brack's impressions from the trip online:
Producer/Reporter Tony Ganzer
Tony Ganzer of KJZZ 91.5 FM, a National Public Radio member station in Phoenix, has produced a special series on renewable energy with material he gathered on the trip. "There aren't any easy answers, but hopefully by hearing how other countries are doing things, how we could do things here, policy makers and industry leaders may be able to make informed choices, leading Arizona and the US into the future," Ganzer says in one piece.
Listen to the Ganzer's series online:
Renewable Energy Series on KJZZ 91.5 FM
Editor/Host Stephen Lacey
Stephen Lacey is the editor and host of the Inside Renewable Energy podcast. He wrote a series and produced a podcast on the German perspective on renewable energy.
Read the series online:
The German Perspective, Part 1: Difficulties in Climate Negotiations
The German Perspective, Part 2: A Resilient Renewable Energy Leader
The German Perspective, Part 3: Training the Future Wind Power Workforce
Listen to the podcast:
Inside Renewable Energy Podcast: Exploring the German Renewable Energy Market
