Frank Asbeck is one of the pioneers of the German solar industry. He is founder and chairman of the board of SolarWorld AG, the world’s third largest solar business. Politicians across the political spectrum ask for Asbeck’s advice on energy policies. In this book, he shows how solar energy will shape our future – and how this will benefit the environment, climate and economy.
Limited resources, environmental destruction and harmfulness to the climate – these are the most obvious disadvantages of oil, gas and coal. Fossil-based energy and centralised power supply systems also make our society dependent on conglomerates and undemocratic regimes. And for developing countries, such huge infrastructures are unaffordable. This is why ecological and socially just energy supplies can only come from renewable sources of energy in future. Nuclear energy is not an alternative either – because of the still unsolved disposal problem if nothing else. The advantages of solar energy are obvious: sun and sand – the raw materials for solar modules – are inexhaustible. Solar cells generate more energy than is needed for their production in just one year. It will soon be cheaper than conventionally generated energy, it has no ecological disadvantages, and is not dependent on power supply networks and fuels. This makes it the ideal source for a largely private, ecological, socially acceptable power supply that is available almost everywhere. And thanks to pioneers like Frank Asbeck, Germany is leading the way in this field.
