When Daniel M. Kammen addresses the international research congress on climate change being held in Copenhagen in March, he'll have a positive message to pass on.
“Within the past few years, an impressive number of engineers, planners, policy makers and economists worldwide have changed their attitude towards renewable energy, which is reflected in the enormous growth of solar and wind power," says Daniel M. Kammen
Kammen, 46, is a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is involved in renewable energy, transportation and environment research. He is also a past and current participant in the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
According to Kammen, the outlook for renewables is so good that he believes it is possible in time to replace much of the energy supplied by oil, coal and gas with solar, wind, geothermal and wave power. Solar and wind power alone could contribute 20 percent each to that total. But before that can happen, power grids need to be changed.
Read the background interview with Daniel M. Kammen (pdf). By Kathrine Schmeichel
Published: 06.03.2009