01-06-04

A five-day conference on renewable energy began in Bonn with a reminder that Germany had not supported the invasion of Iraq a year ago. Wars have been fought in the past over access to oil, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, federal German minister for economic cooperation and development told delegates as the conference got under way.
"But we will never have to fight wars for access to the sun."

The connection between Germany's political decision to stay away from the invasion of Iraq and its promotion of renewable energy was clear from the word go. Renewable energy was held up as the peaceful, and profitable, way forward.

Beyond the German position, it became clear also that the conference is a political move to cut dependency on oil at least as much as it is a question of energy sources, and their benefits for the climate, the environment and development.

The conference focus will be in good measure about cutting dependence on oil, Wieczorek-Zeul suggested. And it is not just a German push. The conference has drawn unexpectedly strong participation, with more than 3,000 delegates turning up from 154 countries.

Difficulties over practical implementation of renewable energies seem to become diminished in relation to growing difficulties with the price and politics of oil.

"Many people are concerned about the rising price of oil," Juergen Trittin, federal German minister for the environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety told delegates as he opened the conference. The relatively higher costs of renewable energy have begun to look less high as a consequence.

More than 120,000 people in Germany are now employed in renewable energy, Trittin said. That number is set to grow as renewable energy begins to come in from the margins.
The federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany is emerging as the renewable energy state of Europe, minister president for the state Peer Steinbrueck told delegates. The state has a highly developed industry in solar, wind and biomass energy, he said.

"But no one can say that it is getting so good it can't be improved." Rajendra Pachauri, director-general of the Energy and Resources Institute in India and chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledged that a major boost to renewables comes from issues of "energy security".

That does not mean quite an oil crisis, Pachauri said. "I am not one of those who believes that the world is running out of oil." But some concern is arising over oil prices and the substantial increase in oil consumption, he said.

"In 2000 the world's oil consumption was 75 mm bpd," Pachauri said delivering the first keynote speech of the conference. By 2030 that is expected to rise to 120 mm bpd, he said.

Members of OPEC would have to raise production from 28.7 mm bpd to 64.9 mm bpd, which means a more than doubling of production. "But that will require major investments, and that would be possible only if the price of oil gets higher." That raises further questions about the cost and logistics of "getting oil from a small part of the world to the rest of the world," he said.

Bad news on oil is itself some good news for renewable energy. And that is beginning to come already, Pachauri said. Investment in renewable energy was worth about $ 20 bn in 2003, up from $ 6 bn in 1995.

"Major companies are in the field now with ambitious plans," he said.

As of now "we cannot wish conventional sources of power away," Pachauri said, because renewable energy makes only about 3 % of total power generation. But 3 % still adds up to a lot of energy that cannot be wished away either, Pachauri said.

By 2010 wind energy alone could meet 4 % of the world's energy needs, he added.
"But a lot will depend on cost reduction," he said. Only lower costs of renewable energy will bring "a new era where renewable energy becomes mainstream."

That is beginning to happen, delegates at the conference said. A German manufacturer of photo-voltaic panels said that the price of the panels that trap solar energy has halved in recent years.

The result is evident already in places like the Sahara desert -- and whatever the Sahara is short of, it is not short of sunshine. Remote settlements in the Sahara are being given power supply through solar panels, Chakib Khelil, minister for energy and mining in Algeria told the conference. Photo-voltaic panels are also being used to pump water to these areas.

Delegate after delegate spoke of oil as a necessary evil for now.
They expect decisions on alternatives at the Bonn conference to add up to a major momentum in a move away from oil.

Source: IPS/GIN via COMTEX