ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on the key assumption that the expansion of renewable energies all over the world is not only the result of technical innovations and positive practical experiences but also an outcome of specific processes of cultural and institutional renewal, including the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and special interest groups. Focusing on the wind energy sector as an example, Ion Bogdan Vasi has argued that the development of wind energy is dependent not only on improvements in technology and on economic factors but, first and foremost, on the efforts of the environmental movement. Beginning with the founding of the Solar Energy Research Institute in Colorado, United States, major research programs in most Western countries led to further improvements in the cost and efficiency of photovoltaic cells. In Latin America, the use of renewable energies is also based mainly on traditional biomass and on a comparatively large proportion of hydropower.
