World uses only 1

BONN, Germany, 2004-05-26 (Refocus Weekly)

The world uses only 62.4 ExaJoules (EJ) of renewable energy today, out of a technical potential of 4,614 EJ.

In the conference issue paper that will serve as the basis for next week’s International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn, the technical potential for solar energy is quantified at 1,570 EJ and 1,401 EJ for geothermal, although only 0.2 EJ and 2 EJ (respectively) are used now. There is no use of the 730 EJ of potential ocean energy, while wind uses 0.2 of its 580 EJ potential. Hydro has the highest current usage, at 10 EJ of its 50 EJ potential, while biomass uses 50 EJ of the global potential of 283 EJ.

Africa is the continent with the highest total potential at 1,186 EJ, of which solar could provide 783 EJ. Asia-Pacific is next at 827 EJ, Europe at 749 EJ, North America at 640 EJ and Latin America at 482 EJ.

The 62.4 EJ of current consumption of renewables constitutes 15% of the world’s current total primary energy consumption of 420 EJ.

The paper sets the scene for the summit “by highlighting the key issues related to the use of renewable energies for a sustainable global energy future,” it explains. “The paper identifies the most urgent matters that have to be addressed in order to achieve a widespread use of renewable energies, so that determined and practical steps can be taken to increase substantially their global application.”

“Manifold studies, based on different approaches presented by various institutions from a broad range of political leanings, reach one conclusion: today’s global energy system is unsustainable in economic, social and environmental terms,” it warns. “Over one and a half billion people globally have no access to modern energy services, inhibiting their ability to lift themselves out of poverty; most economies increasingly depend on fuel imports; global energy production is one of the main causes of global climate change; people around the world suffer from air-pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuel resources; and fossil energy resources are limited and will become more expensive as energy demand in many regions of the world dramatically increases.”

The document examines four themes: policies for renewable energy market development, financing options for renewables, developing capacity for energy market transformation and the role of stakeholders. The first section “lays out some of the most important issues concerning the formulation of an enabling policy environment for the promotion of renewable energies by market forces” and deals with regulatory issues in liberalised energy markets, poses questions on the usefulness of specific targets for renewables and the importance of a level playing field for renewables.

The comparisons of policy support schemes for green power examines quota systems, feed-in tariffs, green certificates and approaches for the improvement of energy access in rural areas of developing countries through specific support schemes for renewables. It says green heat options “can benefit from a wide range of possible support schemes for investments in equipment, especially in the housing and construction sector.”

The Bonn conference was planned at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg two years ago, when German chancellor Gerhard Schröder announced plans to provide “further impetus to the dynamic process” for the global development of renewables. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation calls for action to improve sustainable access to reliable and affordable energy services, of which a significant increase in renewables is viewed as “imperative.”

The meeting is expected to result in a “political declaration containing shared political goals for an increased role of renewable energies and reflecting a joint vision of a sustainable energy future” and an international program of commitments and policy recommendations for renewable energies.

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