German Minister Supports Energy Efficient Products

The public must buy products with greater energy efficiency to improve the economy and the environment, a high-ranking German official said in a speech at the Geological Lecture Hall last night.

Klaus Topfer, the German Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, told an audience of more than 120 that societies must change the way they now use energy.

"Increasing efficiency brings better economic outcomes," Topfer said.

The minister said successful environmental policies must combine labor and investment, adding that prices of products that improve the environment must be lowered.

Topfer also criticized companies that refuse to take responsibility for the damage they do to the environment, and said governments must crack down on such businesses.

To illustrate his point, Topfer talked about an American company that wanted to sell drinks in one-way bottles. The German government later stepped in and required the American company to pay deposits and have the bottles returned for reuse.