On 9 June 2024, Switzerland will vote on the Electricity Act. The Solar Impulse Foundation's position is clear: nature will be much better protected in the end if Switzerland increases its production of clean energy, wastes less, and reduces its imports of fossil fuels... That's what the Electricity Act provides for. And it's a win-win situation: for nature and for Switzerland. Here's why.The energy situation in Switzerland is clear: we import too much, we import fossil fuels, and we are dependent on them. This law has the merit of looking at several aspects at the same time: demand with energy efficiency, which could lead to a significant reduction in waste; supply with renewable energies, particularly solar and hydro, which are ideal solutions for a country like ours; and also local energy communities, which aim to bring about a systemic change towards decentralisation of production and consumption.
We particularly welcome the fact that this law focuses on both production and consumption. The Solar Impulse Foundation and its 1600+ solutions - 182 of which come from Switzerland - has always advocated this duality, because the potential gains in efficiency are massive, and can help protect the climate as much as stimulate economic activity.This law is an exceptional opportunity to implement the Climate Law accepted by the people in 2023 and to modernise our country, offering it an advantage that is as much commercial as it is economic, as much industrial as it is societal.
Many of the law's opponents claim to be nature conservationists. We must listen to their arguments, and we understand them. Yes, nature is in danger. No, this law will not kill it. It is inaction that will. The landscapes that we want to protect, that we want to keep unchanged, are already changing. And for the worse. This law seeks, and finds, the right balance between the imperative of nature and the imperative of the necessary paradigm shift in our energy production and consumption. If we don't do one, we won't do the other. It's a necessary step, and if it's properly regulated, we'll be on the way to reconciling our energy needs with the imperative of preserving the environment.
Numerous Swiss solutions, such as
Climkit,
Synchroguard MATCH Slate/Tile and
Clemap, can not only benefit from this new impetus, but can also make Switzerland's ecological transition a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to the Electricity Act. For nature, for Switzerland, this law is as ecological as it is logical.
On 9 June, we will vote yes.