Riso energy conference recommendations

This week saw the gathering of Europe’s leading Energy figures for the fifth Risø International Energy Conference. The conference centred on the emerging technologies that can help in dramatically reducing global carbon emissions and securing sustainable energy systems for the future.

The conference identified the immediate aim of governments should be to stop global carbon emissions rising before 2020 with the longer term goal of halving current emissions by 2050. They were keen to stress that climate change was not the only issue on the agenda, making the following suggestions:
• We need energy services to drive global economic development
• We need to provide equal access to modern energy worldwide
• We need to provide electricity to the 25% of the world’s population still without electricity
• We need to provide modern energy to the 50% of the world’s population still relying on energy from wood and other solid fuels
• Security of supply is vital as even the slightest disruptions of the energy supply have major social and economic impacts
• We need to solve the health problems related to energy production. This applies to both climate-related diseases and diseases caused by pollution from energy production
• An increasing proportion of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. This growing urbanization creates megacities that both contribute to climate change and feel the effects of climate change. We need to provide smart energy for the smart cities of tomorrow

The participants of the conference are of the belief that in terms of technological potential – the necessary technologies to create a sustainable global energy system and energy efficiency must be pushed both in homes and business. The conference also identified wind as one of the keys for reducing the use of fossil fuels. To conclude the total global investments in the energy systems of tomorrow must be increased significantly if the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to just 2 degrees Celsius is to be achieved.

Published: Tuesday, 24th May 2011 by Adelle Kehoe