Fritz Vahrenholt

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Fritz Vahrenholt (born May 8, 1949 in Gelsenkirchen-Buer) is a German politician (SPD), industrialist and environmentalist.[1]

Biography

Varenholt had studied Chemistry in Münster and started his professional career at the federal Umweltbundesamt (environmental protection agency) in Berlin and the Ministry for Environment of Hesse. From 1984 till 1990 he was in a leading role in Hamburg, first as Staatsrat for environment, 1990 to 1991 for the administral Senatskanzlei, and the Umweltsenator (senator for the environment) in Hamburg from 1991 to 1997.

In 1998 he entered the energy industry and until 2001 was on the Board of Deutsche Shell AG, a Shell subsidiary. In 2001 he moved to post of CEO of the wind turbine company REpower Systems AG and remained there until 2007. From February 2008 he was CEO of electric power company RWE subsidiary RWE Innogy, a post he will step down from in mid-2012. Prof. Dr. Varenholt has a doctorate in Chemistry. In 1999 he was made an Honorary Professor of chemistry at the University of Hamburg.[1][2][3]

Global Warming Skepticism

Vahrenholt is skeptical of human-induced global warming. In 2012 Vahrenholt together with geologist Sebastian Lüning published Die kalte Sonne: warum die Klimakatastrophe nicht stattfindet[4] (The Cold Sun: Why the Climate Crisis Isn't Happening), a book asserting that climate change is driven by variations in solar activity. They predict the Earth is entering a cooling phase due to periodic solar cycles, and will cool by 0.2 to 0.3 degrees C by 2035.[3] Other contributors are Nir Shaviv, Werner Weber, Henrik Svensmark and Nicola Scafetta.

Some commentators have argued against Vahrenholt's conclusions, including a post on the blog Skeptical Science and an editorial written by the Council for Sustainable Development.[5][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fritz Vahrenholt wechselt in den Aufsichtsrat, Wirtschaftsmagazin Ruhr, January 2012
  2. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt". RWE. Retrieved February 17, 2012. , also archived at Webcite.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Breaking Global Warming Taboos: 'I Feel Duped on Climate Change'". Spiegel Online International. 02/08/2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012. 
  4. ↑ Vahrenholt, Fritz; Lüning, Sebastian (2012). Die kalte Sonne: warum die Klimakatastrophe nicht stattfindet. Hoffmann und Campe. ISBN 978-3-455-50250-3. 
  5. ↑ Bachmann, Günther; Töpfer, Klaus (March 15, 2012). "'Total falsche Antworten': Fritz Vahrenholt irrt: Der Klimawandel ist real". Die Zeit. Retrieved May 4, 2012. 
  6. ↑ Nuccitelli, Dana (Feb 14, 2012). "Fritz Vahrenholt – Duped on Climate Change". Skeptical Science. Retrieved May 4, 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Pressemitteilung des Max-Planck-Instituts für Meteorologie zum Buch "Die kalte Sonne"; "Rein natürliche Schwankungen - wie etwa Änderungen der Sonnenaktivität - können hingegen nicht hauptsächlich für die globale Erwärmung in den letzten Jahrzehnten verantwortlich sein, auch wenn das kürzlich erschienene Buch von Vahrenholt und Lüning dies behauptet."". Max-Planck-Institut. Feb 6, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012. 


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