Former Dutch Minister President Lubbers stands up for solar energy
ROTTERDAM/UTRECHT – Former minister president Ruud Lubbers wants to try and push the development and use of solar energy in the Netherlands higher up the political agenda. At the solar energy conference ‘The Solar Future II’, on 22 April in the Mediaplaza complex in Utrecht, Lubbers will be one of the key speakers. He will be examining the issue of why the Netherlands is lagging behind the rest of the world in solar energy terms, even though solar energy will work out just as cheap for households as power from the grid over the next five years.
Ex-premier wants development pushed higher up the Dutch political agenda
Although solar energy production is rising in the Netherlands, thanks to numerous local and regional initiatives and plans, the rise is slower than in other European countries and plenty of opportunities are not being taken up in the Netherlands. Lubbers wants to urge all the experts and participants at the conference to bring up the solar energy question with Dutch politicians.
Lubbers was the Dutch premier from 1982 to 1994 and, along with people like Mikhail Gorbachev, was involved in drafting the Earth Charter – the declaration setting out the fundamental principles for a peaceful, fair and sustainable world in the 21st century. Lubbers is a commissioner and active member of the charter. He is himself a firm advocate of solar power and other forms of sustainable energy, and was one of the first people in the Netherlands to switch over to the electric car.
During the conference he will be supported by other solar energy champions such as Professor Wim Sinke, who for years has been one of the most prominent solar energy experts in the Netherlands, and some 18 other speakers who will be talking about the latest technological developments, national and international trends, and various new initiatives. The aim is also to inspire the market and the industry. The theme of the conference is: 'Solar energy is already an important issue for the Netherlands'.
According to Edwin Koot, CEO of Solarplaza and organizer of the conference, in the next five years we will reach the point where it will become just as cost-effective for households to generate their own solar energy without subsidies as to use energy from the grid. 'Demand for solar energy is growing all the time. It is probably the most important sustainable energy source in the world, but the Dutch government has been dragging its heels on this issue,' Koot claims.
Last year Solarplaza held its first successful conference in Rotterdam. It attracted so much interest that a second conference was an inevitability. Solarplaza already has over 15 years' experience in the international solar energy market. It has organized conferences in countries like the US, Spain, China and Germany; it takes businesspeople on trade missions; and its website www.solarplaza.com is a worldwide platform, bringing together supply and demand and providing information.
For more information visit: www.thesolarfuture.nl
