Historie
SUN & WIND ENERGY over the years
SUN & WIND ENERGY evolved in several stages from the German magazine Sonnenenergie, which was founded in 1976. It has followed the sustainable energy industry over the past three decades. This industry had developed tremendously, particularly in the last ten years. It is therefore almost impossible to give a brief overview of the 35 years that lie behind us. We will try to do so nonetheless.
The appearance and layout of the magazine have changed several times over the past three decades. Its history includes four different titles, three fusions and three Editors-in-chief. For 16 years, Axel Urbanek was Editor-in-chief, until in 1992 there was a change at the top of the editorial team and Detlef Koenemann took on the responsibility. Since the summer of 2008, the SUN & WIND ENERGY team has been led by Volker Buddensiek.
SUN & WIND ENERGY and its German sister publication SONNE WIND & WÄRME developed in phases out of the magazine Sonnenenergie, which was first published in 1976 and, under the leadership of Axel Urbanek, started off as the newsletter of the German Solar Energy Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sonnenenergie, DGS). In 1979 they parted ways. Independently of the Society, Axel Urbanek released a magazine titled Sonnenenergie & Wärmepumpe, and the DGS looked for a new Editor-in-chief for Sonnenenergie, which has also had a long life and is still published by the DGS (nowadays in cooperation with Solarpraxis AG).
The solar energy magazine landscape in Germany was flourishing at the time, although the industry itself was still very small. Few magazines could survive on their own, making fusions necessary. In 1982, Sonnenenergie & Wärmepumpe incorporated the magazines Bau & Energie and Energie Dezentral; one year later it fused with Solar + Wärme Technik, which had been published since 1979 by the Bielefelder Verlagsanstalt, today BVA Bielefelder Verlag. In July 1992, around ten years after these three fusions, BVA acquired all the rights to the magazine founded by Urbanek and gave it a new name: Sonnenenergie & Wärmetechnik. This better described the broad spectrum covered by the magazine. The focus gradually shifted from just solar heat and solar electricity to include wind power. This resulted in another name change eight years later. Since January 2000, the German magazine has been called Sonne Wind & Wärme.
The demand for sustainable energy has exploded worldwide over recent years. For this reason, BVA started to publish a sister magazine in English in 2003: Sun & Wind Energy comes out twelve times a year. While it is closely related to the German version, it is thematically independent and has a more international focus. Besides photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind energy and biomass, there has also been a section dedicated to solar thermal power plants since 2010.
Of course we are also present online. The website has grown continuously over the years; in the winter of 2011 it was time for a big relaunch. Since then we have appeared in the current form and present you with the latest news, articles, market data and much more.
