Columns & Sunburst
In this section we post columns and articles written by ISES Board of Directors, Staff and other contributors to our monthly newsletters. The regular President's Column can also be found here.
In regular "Sunburst" columns, Dr. David Renné, ISES Past President, highlights key recent ISES activities through his own personal experiences and opinions. Articles include impressions from international conferences as well as observations of current projects, events and movements for the work towards a 100% renewable energy future. The Sunburst is featured in the ISES Newsletter.
PVT Nexus - Growing Europe’s Research Community in Photovoltaic-Thermal
The energy transition calls not only for new technologies but also for new communities of practice. In the field of photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) systems, Europe is witnessing both. PVT4EU is driving…
Message from the Solar Industry: “We Provide the Least Expensive Electricity of Any Technology”
Photo: Global Solar Council LinkedIN post This year’s RE+ Solar and Storage Expo, which is rightfully promoted as the largest clean energy event in North America, attracted nearly 40,000…
Solar in Cyprus — Strategic Advantage in a Vulnerable Climate
written by Dr. Nicolaides Kleanthis, President of ISES Cyprus
Essential Background
Cyprus is an island in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest in size after Sicily and Sardinia. It…
Solar World Congress 2025 in Brazil coming up soon
We are excited to invite you to the Solar World Congress 2025 – SWC 2025, which will take place from November 3 to 7, 2025, in the beautiful coastal city of Fortaleza, Brazil. This global congress…
Co-location of Solar Energy and Energy Storage – An International View: Example HYSTORE
Solar energy is inevitable in the energy transition towards 100% renewable energy systems, covering ‘everything and anything under the sun’. Energy storage is crucial to make this intermittent yet…
Women Energizing the Future: A Spark-Filled Solar Speed Dating Recap
Written by Dr. Gurleen Kaur
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025
On March 6th, I had the absolute pleasure of organizing and moderating one of the most energizing and heartfelt events I’ve been…
India’s Story of Systematic Transition and Acceleration in Renewable Energy Deployments
Written by Dr. Ashvini Kumar and Dr. Amit Kumar Singh Parihar
India is probably the only country in the world who had a separate dedicated administrative set-up within the Government in 1981 for…
The Sun is Shining on the African Continent
This month, I would like to direct your attention towards the vast solar potential of the African continent, and highlight the opportunities for innovation that may result from attempting to collect…
Solar Energy in Brazil: The Next Powerhouse
Authors: Dr. Aline Kirsten Vidal de Oliveira, Dr. Marcelo Almeida, Marília Braga
Brazil isn't just embracing solar energy—it’s revolutionizing its potential in the global energy sector. As we count…
Tripling Up Renewables, and Doubling Down on Efficiency
About a decade ago, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) established the Coalition for Action (CfA), a non-governmental multi-stakeholder platform for promoting the rapid uptake of…
Sunburst: March 2023
ISES and the Global Energy Transformation
It has been over two years since I last wrote a Sunburst column for this newsletter. My last column focused on the inauguration of U.S. President Joseph…
President's Column - February 2021
Time for Long Term Solutions
Humanity tends to more intensively experience and evaluate short-term threats higher than longer-term. Such conditioning may have been evolutionarily helpful in the Stone…
Sunburst: January 2021
SunBurst Column
26 January 2021
A New Decade for Action
At 11:49 AM, U.S. Eastern Standard Time in Washington, DC, on 20 January many of us felt as if we were emerging from a long dark tunnel…
Sunburst: April 2020
Is the Global Response to COVID-19 a Prelude to the Response to the Climate Crisis?
The global coronavirus pandemic is a frightening event unlike anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. My…
President's Column - January 2020
Do we really need a catastrophe for global change?
Things are playing out the way scientists predicted years ago: The ambient temperatures increase and extreme weather events occur more frequently,…
Sunburst: January 2020
100% Renewable Energy White Paper Rolled Out at High-Level IRENA Event
ISES Board member Monica Oliphant and I made the long journey to Abu Dhabi three weeks ago (10 to 15 January) to attend the…
Sunburst: December 2019
My Farewell to You as ISES President
With this message I bid a fond farewell to all of the ISES membership and our extended family of partners and renewable energy enthusiasts as President of ISES. …
Sunburst: November 2019
Solar World Congress Delivers Key Message on Addressing Social Issues with Renewable Energy
Just days before the launch of our Solar World Congress 2019 in Chile, serious civil unrest broke…
Sunburst: October 2019
How Can Renewables Support Global Economic, Energy, and Environmental Justice?
The word is in quite a tumultuous state…despite the absence of any major global military conflicts. Civil…
Sunburst: September 2019
Public Sentiment for Tackling the Climate Crisis is Growing
The public voice demanding that government decision makers around the world address the growing threat of climate change has…
Sunburst: August 2019
Brazil’s Solar Markets are Attracting Strong International Attention
According to the Solar Power Europe (SPE) Global Market Outlook (GMO) 2019 Brazil has the 11th strongest PV market of any…
Sunburst: July 2019
Does Asia need more coal-fired power plants?
In the weeks following the celebration of humankind’s first successful landing of two men on the moon, who stayed there for over 21 hours and left their…
Sunburst: June 2019
UN Climate Change Conference Delegates Urge Faster and More Ambitious Action on Clean Energy
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend three days of the Bonn Intersessional Climate Change…
Presidents Column: May 2019
More Studies Demonstrate the Feasibility, and Necessity, for 100% Renewables
For those of you who follow this column you will note that I often fly the flag for 100% Renewable Energy. So, spoiler…
Presidents Column: April 2019
As we celebrate our 50th Earth Day, the environmental movement is shifting to a global climate focus
At the start of this week, on 22 April we celebrated, for the 50th time, Earth Day, which…
Presidents Column: March 2019
ISES Sets its Work Priorities for the Next 3-5 Years
The ISES Board of Directors held its annual face-to-face meeting in Freiburg, Germany on 14-16 March with the specific purpose of solidifying…
Presidents Column: February 2019
ISES Board to Meet for Annual Strategy Discussions
The 19 members of the ISES Board of Directors will soon be meeting in Freiburg, Germany to review plans for the Society’s 2019 activities and to…
Presidents Column: January 2019
ISES Launches New Year with Participation in annual IRENA events
On 5 December 2018 the Global Carbon Project published its annual update of the global carbon budget and trends. The report shows…
Presidents Column - December 2018
How you can take individual steps this new year to address climate change
In this final ISES newsletter of 2018, on behalf of all of the ISES Board of Directors and our wonderful team at ISES…
Presidents Column November 2018
The Other Shoe Falls: New U.S. Climate Report Predicts Dire Consequences from Climate Change
At the end of last week (23 November), when most Americans were enjoying their post-Thanksgiving…
Presidents Column October 2018
Solar deployments in India expected to grow rapidly, if not with some challenges
Karl Böer celebration of life held during award eremony at University of Delaware
In early October, at the Invitation…
Presidents column: September 2018
As Conference Season Sets in, Solar Technologies Show Ever-Growing Strength in the Marketplace
It is September, and the renewable energy conference season is in full swing, with ISES playing many…
Presidents column: August 2018
ISES’ US Section Pushes for Climate Action at its Annual Conference
The American Solar Energy Society, the U.S. Section of ISES, held its annual conference, Solar 2018, at the University of…
Presidents column: July 2018 - ISES supports ISNA’s message of a growing global solar electrification and storage sector
ISES supports ISNA’s message of a growing global solar electrification and storage sector
Paulette Middleton (ISES Secretary) and I travelled to San Francisco to participate in the 11th annual…
Presidents column: June 2018
The Grand Renewable Energy 2018 (GRE2018) International Conference and Exhibition was held at the Pacifico Yokohama, Japan on 18-22 June. This major event – occurring every four years since 2006—is…
Presidents column: Wanted - Your eyes for ISES
An important note to all of our readers: this week marks the deadline for ISES to achieve compliance with the EU’s GDPR. I know many of you have had a lot of messages flooding your inbox regarding…
Presidents column: The energy transition is here…or soon, anyway
On 17-18 April Joanna Costello, the ISES Deputy Executive Secretary, and I attended the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) where there was much discussion about the status and future prospects…
Presidents column: The global voice for renewables
This month the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) is expanding the reach of its monthly newsletter to everyone who has been in touch with our Society via e-mail over the past several years for…
Presidents column: A view of our earth… from two perspectives
Every year around this time ISES Secretary Paulette Middleton and I attend the Boulder International Film Festival, a 3 ½ day event packed with documentaries, feature films, and short subjects…
Presidents column: The siren and the solution
At the start of 2018 I attended two back-to-back conferences. Although they were unrelated, together they provide an interesting storyline for this column.
The first was the 98th Annual Meeting of…