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Editorial
5/2004 |
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An admission of failure and a sign of hope
The conference renewables 2004 will be held in Bonn at the beginning of June. The event is both an admission of failure and a sign of hope. As humankind should actually be a lot further by now, the conference will proove massive shortcomings. Climate change is an established fact. Year by year we experience catastrophic weather situations with floods of the century, droughts of the century and heat waves of the century. Whether villagers drown in Mozambique or pensioners die of heat stroke in France – these tragedies result from the misguided energy policies of the past decades, particularly in the rich industrialised nations. It is a well-known fact that CO2 emissions are causing the gradual destabilisation of the earth’s climate. This substance is an inevitable consequence of using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
Of course, there are alternatives. Back in 1992, at the World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, promises were made to promote the use of renewable energies. However, the Kyoto Process, one of the most important outcomes of the world summit, is flagging. The US and other nations are still resisting emission controls. Instead of a reduction in greenhouse gases, we are witnessing that increasing amounts are being released into the atmosphere. The governments in Germany and Britain are among the very few that excell with national reduction data.
In this gloomy situation, the conference in Bonn will provide a glimmer of hope. Its purpose is to overcome the deadlock. Like-minded partners want to push ahead with up-to-date, environment-friendly technologies, without waiting for the last tail-draggers to join in. Members of parliaments and cabinets, representatives of businesses and civic organisations have been invited by the Federal Government of Germany to discuss political strategies, technical opportunities and mutual action.
Sun and wind, biomass, geothermal energy and hydro-power offer a range of options, which are attractive for more than purely ecological reasons. Decentralised power generation, for example, can make electricity affordable in isolated rural areas. That makes good economic sense, not only in developing countries (interview with UNEP executive director, Klaus Töpfer, p.188). Setting up new infrastructures and maintaining power stations creates jobs and income (German Minister for the Environment, Jürgen Trittin, p.192). Using indigenous resources reduces dependence on oil and at the same time offers a foundation for civic and democratic renewal (Hermann Scheer, p.201).
Oil is expensive and the price tends to rise – not least, whenever multinational corporations must downgrade their reserve estimates. In view of wide spread poverty, one would expect decision makers in developing countries to enthusiastically embrace the opportunities that renewable energies offer. But up to now they have been only very tentative in their support. They are used to following the example set by rich economies and do not trust any technology, which is not used on a grand scale in North America and Western Europe. It is absurd but true, that renewable energies are still considered a second best solution for poor people rather than as an important technology of the future. To change this attitude, the governments of the rich countries must do more than just moralise about intelligent solutions. They must set examples, they must accept international rules on reducing emissions (Sunita Narain, p.196).
In this respect, the valuable commitment of Germany’s Federal Government cannot be denied. Its consistent promotion of renewable energies at home contributes to the coherence of German policy and ensures credibility. It is, of course, true that environmentalits in this country do not always gain acceptance for all the issues to the extent that they would wish. But that must not obscure the fact that Germany is on course to meet international commitments. The German Development Ministry and its implementation agencies such as KfW development bank, GTZ German Technical Cooperation, and InWEnt Capacitiy Building International are in a position to promote renewables with much more than only fancy rhetoric (Klaus Knecht and Hinrich Mercker, p.210). German advice is based on experience.
In the meantime, technology continues to move on. One old argument against wind and solar power – their dependence on weather and day time – is slowly becoming obsolete. Fuel cell technology is close to becoming marketable. It provides a way to store energy in the form of hydrogen, which can then be converted into water and electric power when needed, without any negative impact on the environment. In 2006 RWE, the German based utility multinational, is promising to go into serial production of a fuel cell variety designed to drive entire factories (interview with RWE manager Michael Fübi, p.201). Granted, the process is still very expensive and probably irrelevant for developing countries at the moment. Nor is it the solution to all energy problems as some policy statements in the USA suggest. The central issue, after all, is what energy is used to provide hydrogen in the first place. That will only be environmentally meaningful if it is done on a renewable basis.
Dr. Hans Dembowski
Editor in Chief D+C
euz.editor@fsd.de
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