Summit: Climate change, energy needs trump economy
Attendees at the World Future Energy Summit 2009 now taking place in Abu Dhabi are hearing good news along with the bad: while the globe faces severe threats from climate change and rising energy demand, speakers warn, those factors are also contributing to rapid growth in alternative energy technologies.
“Alternative Energy is a long-term theme,” said Miroslav Durana, head of alternative energy research for Credit Suisse. “Driven by rising energy costs and regulatory mandates in many countries, it is rapidly gaining share in the global energy supply.”
According to Credit Suisse, worldwide energy demand is likely to increase by 50 percent by 2030. Some experts predict 25 percent of that demand will be met by wind and solar power by then.
Other highlights from Day One of the Summit include:
- A warning from Matthias Machnig, German State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of the Environment, that “the consequences of climate change are greater than those of the economic crisis.”
- Word that “the world has reached a tipping point in renewable energy,” according to Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of photovoltaics developer Masdar.
- Calls for a “paradigm shift” in attitudes toward consumption. If everyone today consumed resources like that average resident of a G8 country, we would need three more planets like Earth to meet demand, said Eduardo Concalves, global manager of One Planet Living for the World Wildlife Fund. At current growth rates alone, we would need a second Earth to sustain us within 25 years, he said.
- Unprecedented interest is making solar power the star of this year’s summit, with 132 solar companies exhibiting and two solar energy sessions focusing on photovoltaics and solar thermal energy.
