This month, the international consultancy Ecofys celebrates its 30th anniversary. In 1984, Ecofys was established in Utrecht by a group of six university graduates with the entrepreneurial determination to change the world’s energy supply. Fascinated by the massive potential of renewable energy, they founded Ecofys and began to design solutions across the entire spectrum of sustainable energy systems.
Prime mover in technical innovation
In 1986, just two years since it was founded, Ecofys was operating one of the largest PV/wind demonstration projects in Europe. The Terschelling system was developed to demonstrate a medium sized autonomous system which could provide a reliable source of energy for hospitals or workshops.
Fifteen years later, Ecofys invented and tested the “closed greenhouse system”, a new concept for an integrated climate and energy system that allows permanently closing the ventilation windows of a greenhouse. The system improves energy efficiency while increasing crop yields by up to 30%.
Creating impact on the international stage
Eleven Ecofys employees were members of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Ecofys experts have been involved in UN climate negotiations since 1996 and continue to provide thought leadership at the forefront of developments within the current international climate policy discussions both within and outside of the UN process.
Breaking new ground on the energy debate
For the WWF, Ecofys published “The Energy Report” in 2011, a cutting-edge future scenario showing that a fully sustainable and renewable global energy system is possible by 2050 and explaining how it can be achieved. It is widely acknowledged that a phase-out of global greenhouse gas emissions is necessary in the course of this century. The findings in “The Energy Report” show that this is not only necessary, but also feasible and affordable. This research broke new ground on the global energy debate.
Acting together – now
More recently, Ecofys pioneered the “Wedging the gap” concept, a bottom-up approach which combines 21 coherent major global initiatives that involve a variety of actors. Major cities, large companies or individual citizens work together to trigger greenhouse-gas emission reductions of around 10 gigatonnes by 2020. All initiatives brought together in a grand scheme with a major collective impact, aim to serve as a catalyst for individual action.
Manon Janssen, CEO at Ecofys explains: “All countries, all governments and all industry players must commit to ensure a sustainable, secure and affordable energy system for future generations. We know it can be done, however we also have to believe it can be done. We need to act now.”
Today, public and corporate clients all over the world assign Ecofys consultants to help them find effective solutions in the energy and climate change transition.
[mappress mapid=”14709″]
Press release; Image: Ecofys