Renewable Energy & Sustainability Heroes by GineersNow Engineering GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 017, Ren | Page 17

THE WORLD IS BECOMING
100% RENEWABLE.
- EKOenergy’s aim is to speed up the process
Steven Vanholme has been working as a
renewable energy campaigner for the last 15
years. First as a climate and energy expert
at Natuurpunt, the leading Belgian Nature
Conservation organization, later at the Finnish
Association for Nature Conservation and since
2013 as the co-founder and program manager
of EKOenergy, the only international ecolabel for
renewable energy.
Changing reality
The energy sector is going through a fast
transition. The amazing development of
renewable energy is putting old models under
pressure. Centralized and monopolized energy
systems are making place for decentralized
systems with thousands, no millions, of
producers. Variable energy sources such as
wind and solar are taking a fast growing share
in the worlds energy production, at the expense
of production units with a stable baseload. Old
technologies that needed a lot of raw materials
(coal, gas, radium,...) are being replaced by
technologies that are getting cheaper all the time
and, moreover, produce energy at zero marginal
costs.
... but consumers’ choice is clear
While some desperately try to stick to old truths,
consumers are clearly choosing side. Many
years ago the industry frontrunners such as
Google and Ikea chose to go 100% renewable
and many others are following. The RE100
network unites over 80 world-renowned brands
committed to 100% renewable electricity. The
Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance is helping to
grow corporate demand for renewable power and
helping utilities and others to meet it.
In countries with dynamic electricity markets,
millions of household consumers are actively
choosing renewable energy too.
Own installations and tracked
electricity
There are two main ways for households and
companies to go renewable. They can invest in
their own renewable energy installations, such
as solar panels. They can also buy renewable
energy on the market. Or they can combine both,
as a growing number are doing.
Some are fighting the windmills...
This creates confusion and conservative
reactions. Many traditional, monopolistic energy
companies do whatever they can to slow down
the trend. And all too often, politicians seem
to opt for old paradigms too. Just think of the
way both the Russian and the US presidents
are defending coal jobs despite all evidence
that the fight is lost. US wind-farm developers
and suppliers had more than 100,000 workers
in comparison to around 66.000 jobs in the coal
industry. The US solar power sector employs
more people than oil, coal and gas combined.
The purchase of green energy is only possible on
markets where energy can be reliably tracked.
Renewable Green Leaders • May 2017
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