Swiss environmentalists are pushing the use of solar and wind energy, but at present they produce only small amounts of electricity. Although Switzerland was a pioneer in solar energy research in the 1980s and 90s, consumer interest was reported to be stagnating at the turn of the 21st century.

Cantons are responsible for encouraging the use of renewable energy, but the level of subsidies in many of them for installing solar panels is very low or even non-existent. A further disincentive to the use of solar energy is its cost: 5 - 6 times that from conventional sources.

Wind energy contributes only about 0.01% of Switzerland's energy consumption.