ENABLING FUTURE ENERGY SOLUTIONS

350,000,000 people are expected to move into Chinese cities by 2030! Energy consumption in urban areas is 2 times higher compared with rural areas. Since the green house gas emissions are affecting the world climate we might seek for future solutions. 25 July 2010, Günter Theuermann

The WFES Team — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:34 +0000

Berlin is sexy, Paris – the City of Love, Vienna is different. These are just a view examples of City marketing slogans to attract more investments and people to move in. Fact is – major cities are growing. More and more people are moving from rural to urban areas – for better job opportunities, better education, better healthcare, more culture, more love, etc.

This urban transformation process will speed up tremendously within the next years. The increase of the population in Cities are also increasing the green house gas emissions and also new buildings, transport facilities etc. are needed.

In China for example, according to a UNDP* report (in partnership with Renmin University of China) 350 million people are expected to move into Chinese cities by 2030. More than the entire population of the United States today.

The average energy consumption in cities is higher compared with rural areas. In 2007, everyday per capita energy use in urban areas in China was more than 2 times that of rural areas.

These movements need housing and also transportation to be built. The report estimates that China will need to build 50,000 new high-rise buildings (according to Emporis, New York City has currently around 7.000) and 170 new mass transportation systems.

As living standards rise, the demand for larger living and working spaces will rise, too. New green buildings, or adopting existing ones (retrofit) and infrastructure is one solution, reducing energy consumption by each individual is another one. But might it be enough?

Public transport would definitely reduce the green house gas emissions but on the other hand – during writing this article – Volkswagen (VW) announced that it has sold 1 million cars in China during the first seven month.

Since China is already a leading emitter of green house gases, the increase in the population of the major Chinese cities will also affect the world climate.

The Chinese government has already committed to develop a low carbon economy last year during the UN Climate Change Summit. So, the first step should be done. The question is, how this rapid development can be managed, financed and how a society on the way to more wealth fare can change?

What could be learned from other Cities? Chinese cities could cut private car use in favor of public transport systems as it has been the case for example in Tokyo. China could make the use of bicycles more attractive again like Copenhagen is doing.

Günter Theuermann

Managing Partner

www.save-more-energy.com

About save-more-energy.com – save-more-energy.com is an independent b2b platform for the Renewable Energy Industry, Real Estate Industry, Cities & Regions.

Save-more-energy.com is focusing on Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Best practice, best solutions, to learn from each other – for Quality and Equity!

Sustainability of the solar industry; the effect of new business initiatives, government policy and subsidies. 4 July 2010, Günter Theuermann

The WFES Team — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:28:58 +0000

‘A joint study by A.T. Kearney and the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association, ESTELA, shows the growing mid-term potential of STE to progressively substitute conventional energy sources and complement the renewable energy sources portfolio with a cost-competitive dispatchable solution – In a best-case scenario industry roadmap involves creation of 100,000 to 130,000 jobs by 2025’ (see for example at save-more-energy.com).

‘…Solar energy is the power source of the future. Only 15 years ago, hardly any photovoltaic systems could be found on top of German roofs. Today, close to 500,000 systems collect the rays of the sun and convert them into energy. … Over the last 20 years, the share of renewable energy in our total power consumption has more than quadrupled on a country-wide basis and now accounts for 16 percent. …. According to a study published by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), projects like DESERTEC should be able to allow for roughly 15 percent of Europe’s demand for electricity to be covered by solar energy from Africa by the year 2050.’ (Dr. Martin Heming, CEO of SCHOTT Solar AG in an interview at save-more-energy.com).

It is not necessary to talk in this blog right now about the importance of the Renewable Energy Industry. We all know that we need to increase the use of renewable energy and that the current installed capacity is not enough. We agree on this.
But if we go back – some years – we can see a similar situation for the Internet Industry and also for the Real Estate Industry. They were all booming and very creative solutions were developed. BUT as we all know this hype were suddenly stopped and the result was – the financial crises.

So, to develop the Renewable Energy Industry (which is not new but which is currently booming) we should be careful and develop it in a sustainable way.

We should try to focus on environment and our first priority should be to protect mother nature. We should try to start in our houses, apartments, offices, factories, et.al to use our resources in a proper way. We should also support new developments and research. We should also educate our children not to do the same mistakes like we did. We should also find some ‘regulations’ for example with IRENA to create standards and a framework for a sustainable development in this sector.

The focus should be on ‘Quality’ and ‘Equity’! The focus should be on happy and healthy people. Otherwise the result will be the next financial crises.

Günter Theuermann

Managing Partner

www.save-more-energy.com

About save-more-energy.com – save-more-energy.com is an independent b2b platform for the Renewable Energy Industry, Real Estate Industry, Cities & Regions.

Save-more-energy.com is focusing on Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Best practice, best solutions, to learn from each other – for Quality and Equity!

Importance of energy efficiency

Schneider Electric — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:40:57 +0000

Investment in energy efficiency helps companies boost their profits, lower costs and cut carbon emissions, as the same level of performance can be achieved from a lower level of energy use. Energy efficiency is also the best and quickest way to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions — 38 percent of all carbon emissions in America come from powering the buildings, and a lot of that energy is wasted; making energy efficient buildings a therefore a key means for cities to reduce their carbon emissions.

The UAE is looking more and more into the concept of “green building”. The Emirates Green Building Council is playing its role by advocating the Leadership in Energy and Energy Design (LEED) rating system – a US rating system that encourages a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognising performance in the following areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. The Emirates Green Building Council is in process of finalising a document to push the eco-rating system that is region-specific.

Companies that not only understand the importance of energy efficiency, but understand how to implement energy efficient practices are key to pushing forward the green building process; Schneider Electric is one such company. With over 30 years of experience, Schneider Electric serves the Gulf economy by providing complete, energy efficient solutions for all power and control needs that also deliver energy savings of up to 30 per cent.

You can visit Schneider-Electric at their stand Hall 4, Booth #4405 from 18-21^st of January 2010 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center

Standard Chartered Bank: Sustainable Finance

Standard Chartered Bank — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:18:31 +0000

The environmental, economic and social costs of climate change are well known. Their impacts are becoming increasingly evident, especially in those countries that have limited capacity to mitigate against, and adapt to, the key risks associated with climate change.

At Standard Chartered we recognise that as a leading international bank we have an exceptional ability and responsibility to contribute to the long-term sustainability of our planet. By far the biggest impact we have on society and our environment is through our support for the business activities of our clients. Our financing decisions – who and what we finance – enable us to make our strongest contribution to sustainable development. We seek to lead by example and we work with clients who share our commitment to driving sustainable economic growth, and protecting the environment.

At the WFES, Standard Chartered Bank will host the “Standard Chartered Future Theatre” for the third time running, where renewable energy experts from world over will discuss and debate developments and case studies from the renewable energy and clean tech sector. Led by Standard Chartered’s Renewable Energy & Environmental Finance team, well known for their leading role in principal finance, mergers and acquisitions, equity raising, advising, financing renewable and green energy deals, the Future Theatre program offers delegates a unique insight into the latest trends and “hot” sectors like nuclear energy, solar power and carbon capture and storage (“CCS), key global issues like water-energy nexus and financing-related topics like the M&A outlook for the industry.

The Standard Chartered Future Theatre is open to all exhibition and conference delegates free of charge.

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Pushing technological limits: Around the world in a solar airplane

The WFES Team — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:23 +0000

In 1999, Bertrand Piccard — Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut – completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the Earth in an air balloon. Right after this feat was born his idea for the Solar Impulse project: to create an aircraft that will fly day and night propelled only by solar energy. No fuel, no pollution.

Never before has an airplane run solely on solar power for more than a few hours, let alone day and night. Along with Andre Borschberg – engineer, fighter pilot and professional airplane and helicopter pilot – with this project, Piccard is truly pioneering the spirit for the development of renewable energy resources in aviation.

The first test flight for Solar Impulse HB SIA took place early December in Switzerland. It flew 350 meters down the runway at an altitude of one metre in a flight lasting 28 seconds. Preparation is now in progress for its first 36 hour day-night-day flight which is projected to happen sometime in 2012.

At the upcoming World Future Energy Summit, we are thrilled to have Bertrand Piccard as a key speaker at the Plenary Forum 2 on day 1 of the summit that will be discussing challenges and solutions to the world’s future energy issues. You can read more about the Solar Impulse project on its website and check out more videos on its YouTube channel.

Some of the best online sources to follow COP15:

The WFES Team — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:00:49 +0000

As COP15 kicks off, the internet is overwhelmed with information, opinion and analysis of this summit. Here are our best recommendations online to stay updated with the most important climate summit for 2009:

COP15 has a two main blogs, both worth keeping tab on as they are updated regularly by experts and people actually at the summit: The Climate Thinkers blog is written by group of thinkers from all over the world that includes scientists, NGO-representatives, politicians, high level civil servants, businesspeople and many others. It provides unique comment on various aspects of climate change, as well as the summit itself. The Behind the Scenes blog will give you a peak into what goes into organizing a summit as large and as important as COP15.

Also, COP15 has a great YouTube channel where you can share your thoughts on the summit as it happens, and you can follow them on twitter, and Facebook, too. There is also a video blog for COP15 done in conjunction with WWF, where up to 10 videos will be posted every day throughout the summit.

Other than COP15 sources, the blog of Global Warming is Real is thorough and informative; Treehugger.com has an entire section on COP15 that will be providing opinion from the events summit. A blog set-up specially to track happenings at COP15 is http://copenhagencountdown.blogspot.com/ — this blog features a group of people across different sectors and nationalities who are all part of the key issues that will be discussed in Copenhagen. And finally, two newspaper blogs that dedicated to climate change that are covering the summit: NY Times green blog and the Guardian’s environment blog that is even doing some live-posting.

These however are just some of many good sources available online. If you know of any other quality sources to follow COP15, do leave them in the comments!

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Greenhouse gas emissions targets diluted at APEC

Ludovica Sarram — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:20:48 +0000

COP15 seems to be facing hurdles. At the just held APEC summit, leaders agreed that a binding global-warming agreement at the summit was unrealistic. Also, the previously made pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has been scrapped on grounds of being “very controversial”. APEC includes the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, who are disputing how to split responsibility for combating climate change as the Copenhagen summit (COP15) gets closer.

COP15 is where leaders from nearly 200 countries will set a deadline to devise a new treaty as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. However, it now seems like the much awaited COP15 meeting is merely going to be the “staging post” and not the end point in the search for a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The importance of summits like the COP15 and WFES cannot be undermined. They are both in their own way critical instruments in taking the climate change issue to a level that will lead to achievable solutions.

You can follow updates on the COP15 summit blog here and find out more about the WFES 2010 summit programme, here.

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Countdown to Copenhagen: What needs to be achieved?

The WFES Team — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:01:42 +0000

2009 has been a critical year in the international effort to address climate change, one that will end with a major UN conference in Copenhagen (December 8-17). The conference’s aim is to reach a global agreement to tackle climate change in light of the fact that the current Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reinforced at the G8 Summit: “We must seal the deal in Copenhagen for a global agreement which can address climate change issues.” In context of the same, the G8 Summit declaration reiterates the participating countries willingness to share the goal of achieving at least a 50 per cent reduction of global emissions by 2050. Also, at the recent UN general assembly meeting, China announced its commitment to curb carbon emissions and invest in green energy.

Paying attention to the various talks taking place across the world at the highest levels, the threat posed by climate change cannot be made clearer. The path forward, however, is not so clear. How much are industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases? How is the help needed by developing countries, to reduce their emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, going to be financed?

Energy and the environment are both critical elements of everyday life. We are all stakeholders in this concern and we welcome your thoughts.

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World Future Energy Summit update

The WFES Team — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:41:40 +0000

The World Bank recently released a report that focuses on the fact that developed countries need to take lead in addressing the climate issue, and that Abu Dhabi could potentially become an energy and water nexus, using the huge potential of solar energy.

On the flip side, as countries all over the world are exploring their potential to harness future energy solutions, an interesting question arises: will an alternative energy economy be the next boom?

At WFES (which is around the corner – January 18-21) the above topics and many more will be debated. About a 100 speakers have been confirmed, that include: Hélène Pelosse, Interim Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Dr. Farookh Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy, India; Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management, DB Climate Change. Advisors; and Richard H. Jones,Deputy Executive Director, International Energy Agency. The full list of confirmed keynote speakers can be found on our website here.

Other topics of discussion will include: talk on the challenges of the future energy industry and potential solutions; carbon capture and storage; key to this region – advances in solar technology; energy efficiency from the consumers perspective; transportation policies and planning for sustainable development, the key role played by research and development in winning the future energy battle, and outcomes from the UNFCCC and COP15. The full programme can be found here.

Registrations are still open. You don’t have to be an expert to attend. We have special student packages, too.

So, what would you like to see discussed at the World Future Energy Summit? What do you think needs to be done to find sustainable future energy solutions for our planet?

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Hurdles to climate change negotiations: When will we cross over them?

The WFES Team — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:03:00 +0000

“There is no plan B. If we do not realise plan A, we go straight to plan F which stands for failure,” said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjejiva. “The situation is a little desperate, and time is slipping through our fingers,” Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc told AFP in an interview.

What is plan A? How long do we have to sort things out and stay out of danger? Difficult questions that are being tackled at multiple high-level climate change talks like the recent UN Climate Summit in New York, the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Up until next week in Bangkok is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the second last session before COP15 in Copenhagen in December. Informally known as the Earth Summit, the UNFCCC treaty is an environmental treaty aimed at stabilizing green house gas in the atmosphere, to a level that will prevent interference with the climate system that is generated by human activities. It is also the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Other than green-house-gas emissions, another critical problem is the public and private capital needed to move things forward. The UNFCCC has estimated that by 2020, the cost of alleviating us from and adapting to climate change will escalate to US$200 billion, and be US$100 billion per year. In addition to this, according to the IEA, public finance is crucial for mobilizing the estimated US$1.5 trillion in annual private sector investment needed to boost the clean energy economy.

How is this going to be made possible? During all these top-level talks between countries, has anything been agreed upon? Does everything rely on COP15?

One thing is for certain, nothing can be solved with COP15 alone. Improving the environment and progressing the renewable energy agenda is an ongoing challenge, and is not going to be solved overnight. We hope that WFES will ensure the dialogue is continued and further solutions found.