In 2008, even as Americans argue over whether renewable energy is a fantasy, Germany generated 14.2% of its electrical power from renewable resources. Already a leading player in so-called clean technology -- the mix of environmentally benign power generation and environmentally friendly technologies -- Germany may become the epicenter of the world's next industrial revolution: the triumph of clean, cheap, sustainable electricity.
This article looks at how the German government and individuals helped such companies as Enercon, the world's third-largest producer of wind generators, and Q-Cells, the world's largest producer of photovoltaic cells, reach their present position, and what their gains might mean for the country and the world.
Bigger than Cars
At a time when most countries have hardly begun installing power-generating windmills, Germany has already installed 23,900 megawatts, making it the world's largest home of windmills per capita. Germany also has an installed base of 3,830 megawatts of photovoltaic cells, making the country a world leader in solar power as well, despite its famously wet climate.
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