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Governments, Local Groups Pledge To Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Renewable energy conference stimulates “green” practices and looks to future

By Lea Terhune
Staff Writer

Washington -- The 6,000 people who attended the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) have dispersed, but more than 100 nations and local entities pledged to carry the work forward. Governments, towns, colleges and businesses pledged specific actions to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by adopting renewable energy.

U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner told reporters “the largest consumer of energy in the world,” the U. S. federal government, will ensure that 7.5 percent of its electric energy use comes from renewable resources by 2013.

Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, lauded island nation Cape Verde for pledging to increase its reliance on renewable energy sources by 50 percent by 2020. Low-lying nations are the most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, which is causing a significant rise in sea level.

New Zealand committed to produce 90 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025; Madagascar committed to 54 percent by 2020. The Council of the European Union said it would push for a minimum reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent by 2020. Bangladesh, Japan, Pakistan and Tanzania were among governments that committed to policy changes favoring use of renewable energy.

Smaller groups pledged, too: colleges, businesses and towns such as Bellingham, Washington, committed to deriving 100 percent of their electrical power from renewable sources.

Dobriansky said a conference “underpinning” was that “renewables are a key part of our broader strategy to address the challenges of energy security and climate change. Also that renewable energy is no longer a niche market.” It is “an integral part of our overall climate change policy,” she said.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

On the sidelines of the ministerial meetings and at a concurrent trade show, delegates from 119 nations discussed problems and potential solutions.

Africa is rich in renewable resources, but “harnessing the energy is a critical problem,” one African delegate told America.gov.

Hasna Khan, international director of a Bangladesh sustainable development consulting firm, said much of her firm’s work is education. “It is a global issue. We have to understand it” and work together, she said. Her group facilitates projects such as solar rural electrification and related microenterprises.

Satkardeep Singh, a manufacturer of solar products in India, attended WIREC to connect with buyers. His Chandigarh-based company has supplied solar technology to six power plants in India and also makes solar-powered traffic signals, he said.

Besides government and nonprofit groups, the trade show teemed with building contractors and engineers eager to make the shift to green construction.

International companies displayed products ranging from household fuel pellets made from “poultry litter” to the Mack-Volvo joint venture carbon dioxide-neutral trucks. Solar panels, some collapsible, and photovoltaic film also were displayed.

Biomass fuels, particularly ethanol and other fuels produced from nonedible organic waste figured prominently. “E-Coal,” meant to replace coal in power plants, is manufactured by NewEarth from seaweed and agricultural waste.

The corporate sector’s serious approach to renewable energy was evident in booths at the trade show by lawyers who specialize in “new energy” law.

An unanticipated side event was a press conference by corporate officers from Nth Power, Google, General Electric and Credit Suisse and a former California energy commissioner who called for early renewal of federal tax incentives for renewable energy projects. Incentives are set to expire at the end of 2008.

“Renewable energy is the biggest opportunity for economic growth and wealth creation in our lifetimes,” U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Thomas Dorr said. “The United States was perhaps a little late in the game,” but in the past few years has proven that “we are very much engaged at this point,” he said, citing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and generous federal funding of research as examples.

Numerous panels discussed economic and environmental benefits of renewables, market adoption and finance.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla told a plenary session. He now concentrates his funding on clean energy startups.

Khosla said energy-efficient technologies must be affordable to developing countries. Enthusiastic about cellulosic ethanol, solar thermal power, geothermal and other innovative technologies, he predicted some would become competitive in the next five years to 10 years.

More support for rural development came from panelist Sarah Adams of Global Village Energy Partnership. “Using local resources is sustainable, affordable and doable for development organizations,” she said.

“These are not problems that one nation of the world can be absent from,” Karsner said. “Collaboration is the great success story of this event. It marks a new era of problem solving.”

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