Preben Maegaard

Key takeaways

Preben Maegaard belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Preben Maegaard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Preben Maegaard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Preben Maegaard (25 September 1935 – 25 March 2021) was a Danish renewable energy pioneer, author and expert. From the oil crisis in 1974 he worked for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Maegaard was co-founder of the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy, established in 1983, and its director 1984 till 2013.

Life and work Maegaard worked locally, nationally and internationally at the organisational, political and technological levels within broad spectrum of renewable energy technologies. From 1979 to 1984 Maegaard was chairman of the Danish Renewable Energy Association (OVE) from 1991, vice-president of Eurosolar (the European Renewable Energy Association) and in 2006, appointed senior vice-president. From 1992 he was co-ordinator of the European Solar Prize in Denmark and member of the European Solar Prize Jury. In 1995 he became Member of Senate, UTER, Technical University, Havana. In 1996 and the following years, Maegaard was member of the board of EUROSUN, an intergroup set up by the European Parliament. From 1999, he was a board member of the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF) and Renewable Energy Adviser to the President of Mali, Alpha Konare, leading to the establishment of the Mali Folkecenter. In 2001, he became a chairperson of the Committee of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE). When the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) was founded in 2001, he became its first president, a position he held till 2005. In May 2006, the World Wind Energy Institute (WWEI) was initiated in Kingston, Canada, involving seven institutes from China, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, Russia, Egypt and Denmark. Maegaard was appointed the first president of the WWEI. He was co-founder of the SolarSuperState Association when it was founded in 2012 and became its first president. As the director of the Folkecenter he was responsible for the technological innovation of windmills, including design, construction and implementation of sizes from 20 to 525 kW, farm biogas digesters from 50 to 1000 m3 as well as integrated energy systems including hydrogen and biofuels for transport. The technological development and implementation activities took place in cooperation with DS Trade and Industry. The Folkecenter under his leadership provided transfer of renewable energy technology to many countries, and set up numerous pilot projects worldwide. In 2002, the liberal government suspended the national renewable energy development and implementation activities and programs in which Maegaard held positions. Danish State support to the Folkecenter received from 1983 was suspended as well. From 2005, Folkecenter received funding from the Energifonden and from 2012 support from the Danish state. Maegaard served on several Danish national governmental committees and councils for the development and implementation of renewable energy as member of:

Renewable Energy Steering Group (1981–1991); National Board of Technology; National Renewable Energy Council in Denmark (1991–1996); National Committee Biomass for Energy (1985–1989); National Committee for Solar Energy (1995–2002); National Committee for Wave Power (1997–2002); National Committee for Hydrogen from Renewable for Transport Purposes (1998–2002). For over three decades, Maegaard was conference director, organiser, speaker and/or participant of numerous national and international seminars, workshops and conferences, chairman of the World Wind Energy Conferences: WWEC2003 in Cape Town, WWEC2004 in Beijing and WWEC2005 in Melbourne. Maegaard was author and/or co-author of numerous reports, books, articles and periodicals in Danish, English, German and Japanese within the field of renewable energy and sustainable development and received a number of awards. In March 2010 Maegaard was featured in documentary film The Fourth Revolution: Energy. Maegaard died on 25 March 2021, at the age of 85.

Professional career Education

1957–1962: Economist, graduated in Microeconomics, Human Resources and International Trade. Copenhagen School of Business and Economics. Studies, Law and Ethnography, Copenhagen University.

1962–1965: Economist, Statistical Planning Bureau, Ministry of Housing Early Career

1965–1970: Lecturer, Adult Education, Social Sciences and Human Ecology, Open University Courses and Danish Folk High Schools 1970–1975: Manager, NORDENFJORD College of Innovative Productions and Human Development 1975–1983: Consultant and Project Implementation Manager for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Renewable Energy. Project management | Organisation: Dansk Smedemesterforening (DS Trade & Industry)

1976–1982: Cooperation about development of construction manuals. 11, 22, 55 kW wind turbines for the Danish market. Marketing strategies. Association of 2000 members, 20 companies directly involved. Coordination, testing and approval. 1980–1982: Coordination of project group design engineering and product implementation. 100 kW wind turbine (Rudbjerg). Supported by Danish Agency of Industry. 1981–1985: Farm biogas, 50, 100, 200 cubic meter. Cooperation about development of construction manuals. Marketing strategies. Four companies directly involved. Coordination, testing and approval. Supported by Danish Agency of Industry Founder and director | Organisation: Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Preben Maegaard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Preben Maegaard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Preben Maegaard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Preben Maegaard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Preben Maegaard

In research: Preben Maegaard appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Preben Maegaard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Preben Maegaard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1935 births, 2021 deaths, Danish environmentalists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Preben Maegaard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Preben Maegaard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Preben Maegaard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Preben Maegaard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Preben Maegaard in simple terms?

Preben Maegaard (25 September 1935 – 25 March 2021) was a Danish renewable energy pioneer, author and expert. From the oil crisis in 1974 he worked for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Why does Preben Maegaard matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Preben Maegaard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Preben Maegaard.