“Whatever we do today should not only be acceptable to us, but also to mother nature,” emphasized Lester R. Brown, the guru of the environmental movement and the president of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, while delivering his “champion” address before the Congress on Wednesday. “We need to cut greenhouse emission by 80 percent — not by 2050 — but by 2020, if we need to grow, sustain and prosper,” he underlined.
The Greenland ice sheet is melting at an accelerated pace and in a decade, we may already reach a point of no return. And if the Greenland ice sheet is allowed to melt, it may cause the sea water level to rise by 23 feet. This could be disastrous and the effects would be unprecedented, Brown underlined in his passionate appeal to the energy leaders to act before it’s too late.
Similarly the ice covering on the Himalayan and the Tibetan Plateau is also beginning to melt, and this could have long-term implications on global grain harvest too — as these also nurture the irrigation systems of agriculturally important countries in the region — China, India and Pakistan.
It irrigates the plains of Indus and Ganges, and that is being endangered now. For every degree’s rise in global temperatures, the world could experience 10 percent less grain production, the president of the Earth Policy Institute cautioned. Yet there was an optimistic streak in his presentation too.
Terming the recent developments in renewable sector as beyond imagination even two years ago, Brown highlighted the Texan initiative of bringing on stream 10,000 MW of wind energy in recent years, with another 40,000 MW of wind energy in pipeline.
China on the other hand is building seven mega wind projects with a total capacity of 130,000MW. He also underlined the DESERTEC project of harnessing solar power in North African deserts and integrating it with the North African-European electric grid. The world has started to change, yet much more needs to be done to reach the target, Brown said.
On the sidelines of the Congress, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), that has 162 countries as its members, launched its vision on how smart use of electric energy -- “smart electrification” -- will be central in future in meeting the energy challenges facing us over the next 20 to 30 years. The vision highlighted the importance of adopting electrical standards, so as to promote efficiency in the sector and reduce carbon emission.
Jacques Regis, president of the Geneva-based organization IEC, highlighting the importance of adopting standards, told Arab News that the standby energy in TV sets could be reduced significantly if countries begin adopting the standards put forward by the IEC.
From computers to home cooling and heating, by adopting proper standards, one could promote efficient use of energy. Safe, efficient and responsible use of energy is crucially important to the future of this planet, Regis said.
And to top it all, four heavyweights, the champions huddled together in one of the adjacent conference rooms to discuss the four Rs of energy -- Rules, Rights, Reputation and Respect. Organized and coordinated by the ENI energy magazine “Oil,” former US Senator Gary Hart, co-founder and Chairman Cambridge Energy Research Associates Daniel Yergin, Moises Naim, the senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Claudio Desclazi, the COO, Exploration & Production, ENI participated in the absorbing discussion.
Yergin highlighted the issue of who controls resources, the issue of rights and associated elements in his brief presentation. He also reiterated his stance that when some in the energy fraternity spoke of Peak Oil, “that was the fifth time the world had run out of oil.” That was far from truth again though, he hinted. The question today is deployment of huge investments in the sector and not availability of resources.
Hart lamented the rise of nationalism in the US body politic too -- apparently as a consequence of the globalization of the last decades. Responding to a question, he admitted the failure of the existing political model -- including the existing democratic model. “The 20th century political model cannot save and solve the issues of the 21st century,” the elderly senator conceded. He underlined that one doesn’t own earth; one rather inherits it from the parents and bequeaths it to the children, the next generation.
Naim highlighted the fact that geology takes oil players to places, where upholding the four fantastic Rs does not remain feasible. And this is where politics enters, he conceded.
With one more day to go -- the four-day conference finishes late on Thursday - a lot more fireworks could be in the pipeline, one is led to believe here at the Palais des Congres de Montreal.
