World Congress to Talk Energy

World Congress to Talk Energy ; Delegates to Meet in Denver, Discuss Renewable Sources

Aug 31 - Rocky Mountain News

Sitting at a conference in Beijing 10 years ago, Elizabeth Celelski realized one thing.

Nobody was talking about how women in developing countries could affect policy when it came to energy use. And this at the Fourth World Conference on Women.

She decided to do something about it.

Cecelski, now 51, co-founded ENERGIA. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the nonprofit agency helps men and women in developing countries - mainly in Senegal, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and India - adopt more efficient and safer ways of using energy. That could range from improving appliances such as cooking stoves, to advising governments about renewable energy.

Cecelski now hopes to get American women more involved with the nation's energy policy, especially when it comes to renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro and biomass power.

"Renewable energy so far has concentrated on technology and not so much on acceptance by consumers," Cecelski said from North Carolina, where she has lived the past year. "Woman consumers make a lot of decisions such as what appliances to buy or how much income to spend on energy efficiency.

"But there is no network in the U.S. to involve women at the policy level. I am hoping the congress next week will discuss the possibility of setting up such a network," Cecelski added.

Cecelski was referring to the World Renewable Energy Congress, which will kick-start its eighth biennial meeting, to begin Sunday in the downtown Marriott Hotel. Cecelski will receive the Pioneer Award for her efforts during the conference, which concludes Friday.

Hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, the six-day conference is expected to draw more than 1,000 delegates from 100 countries.

Denver last hosted the congress in 1996.

"The meeting forges a relationship between the developed and developing countries," said Robert Noun, the lab's deputy associate director. "It matches people who are trying to build capacity for renewable energy in their countries to people who have gotten far along the path of doing so."

For instance, Pir Mohammad Azizi, the deputy minister of water resources and environment of Afghanistan, will explore how renewable energy can be used to rebuild the energy infrastructure in his country, Noun said.

Companies such as BP, Shell and General Electric - each of which has invested substantially in renewable energy - and other experts will share their knowledge with conference delegates.

Currently, most of the investment in renewable energy is dominated by Japan, Europe and North America. Part of the reason is cost; developing countries simply cannot afford the higher cost of renewables.

John Mogford, BP's group vice president for gas, power and renewables in London, said the "biggest challenge is to make the renewable products cost competitive with existing energy products."

"Another challenge is to make sure the renewable energy industry, including the electricians, distributors, consumers and policy- makers, grows in a disciplined way," Mogford said, noting that the industry is growing at about 40 percent each year. "There are histories of industries that grow too fast and become unsustainable later on."

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