Here's some good news on the Clean Energy front. The U.S.A. was an active participant, in the latest International Meeting of the minds, on how to best tackle the Clean Energy and CO2 problems, we all face.
Looks like the days of the Kyoto foot-shuffling, may finally be behind us. Hopefully.
Secretary Chu Announces Progress on International Initiatives to Promote Clean Energy
U.S. Department of Energy, energy.gov -- April 8, 2011
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu this week joined with energy ministers and high-level representatives from more than 20 governments to announce renewed support for 11 international clean energy initiatives at the second Clean Energy Ministerial in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. These initiatives are helping to accelerate the global transition to a clean energy future, with the goal of eliminating the need to build more than 500 mid-size power plants worldwide in the next 20 years, among other goals.
[...]
To accelerate the deployment of transformational low-carbon technologies, Secretary Chu and other ministers launched the Clean Energy Solutions Center to help countries strengthen clean energy policies and program development.
The Solutions Center will provide information on emerging policy trends and identify opportunities for international policy coordination, supplemented by peer-to-peer learning, remote expert assistance and online training.
Not sure why these twelve countries are calling their Clean Energy meeting a
"Ministerial"? Most likely it's in the U.K. "Ministry of Defence" kind of way.
Perhaps it's an indication how seriously the world is now taking the "Climate Change" Problem. That it deserves its own Department. Perhaps, maybe some day soon, its own Cabinet position too. For now Secretary Chu, is the US Energy ambassador.
12 Countries Agree to Carbon Capture Actions; IEA Urges Aggressive Policies
nonplasticearth.org/blog 2011-04-09
Energy secretaries from the U.S., U.K. and ten other countries have agreed to accelerate the development of carbon capture projects, at the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi.
[...]
Also at the ministerial, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its first Clean Energy Progress Report (pdf), which said that governments around the world must adopt more aggressive clean energy policies. These include predictable incentives, prices on CO2 emissions, a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, and funding for large-scale CCS demonstrations.
“Extensive deployment of CCS [Carbon Capture & Storage] is critical to achieve climate change goals: around 100 large-scale projects are needed by 2020, but countries must accelerate their policy and funding support for the large-scale CCS demonstrations,” the IEA said.
For more on Carbon Capture & Storage tech please check out my post from last Sunday.
Here's some key info from that International Energy Agency (IEA) Progress Report, at the recent world meeting which Secretary Chu attended:
Clean Energy Progress Report (pdf)
IEA input to the Clean Energy Ministerial -- 2011
Clean energy progress report [pg 12]
Table 1 includes an updated assessment of the current gaps faced by key clean energy technologies in terms of deployment requirements compared against the BLUE Map scenario and public investments in RD&D.
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Clean energy progress report [pg 22]
The BLUE Map scenario sets a goal of halving global energy‐related CO2 emissions by 2050 (compared to 2005 levels) and sets out the least‐cost pathway to achieve that goal through the deployment of existing low‐carbon technologies (Figure 4). This can serve as a vision for shared global goals to reduce GHG emissions while enhancing energy security and advancing economic growth.
Figure 4. Key technologies for reducing CO2 emissions under the BLUE Map scenario, 2010
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Figure 4. Legend:
CCS [Carbon Capture & Storage] 19%
Renewables 17%
Nuclear 6%
Power generation efficiency and fuel switching 5%
End‐use fuel switching 15%
End‐use fuel and electricity efficiency 38%
Those are the targeted areas for cutting in 1/2 the World's CO2 Output by 2050 -- the so-called Blue Map. And this time, for now, the U.S. considers itself "part of" the World's CO2 problem. Finally.
Here's some selected info (and selected links) from the Clean Energy Solutions Center site launched Secretary Chu and other Clean Energy ministers from around the world, "to accelerate the deployment of transformational low-carbon technologies", worldwide:
Clean Energy Resources: Reports, Data, and Tools
CleanEnergySolutions.org
[...] To assist Clean Energy Ministerial participants with the design and adoption of clean energy policies and programs, the Solutions Center serves as a first-stop clearinghouse of information and tools on clean energy policies. Data, tools, and reports are available for each of the following topics and resource types listed below.
Energy Topics
Energy Efficiency
-- Appliances and Equipment
-- Buildings
-- Industry
-- Utilities
Renewable Energy
-- Biofuels
-- Electricity: Biomass Power, Geothermal Power, Hydropower, Solar Power, Wind Power, Crosscutting Technologies
-- Heating and Cooling
-- Rural Energy Programs
Clean Transportation
-- Alternative Fuels and Vehicles
-- Fuel Efficiency
-- Vehicle Miles Traveled Reduction
-- Public Transit
Crosscutting
-- Low-Carbon Communities
-- Smart Grid
[...]
Analysis Tools
These models and tools for clean energy analysis include both tools that were developed primarily for use in one country and tools that are easily applied across multiple countries.
-- Opportunity Assessment and Screening
-- Market Analysis
-- System and Application Design
-- Policy, Deployment and Program Impact
Here are the serious Clean Energy players, as of the last meeting:
Clean Energy Solutions Center -- Participants
The following countries and organizations are leading the development and operations of the Solutions Center:
-- Australia
-- France
-- India
-- Italy
-- Japan
-- Mexico
-- South Africa
-- United Arab Emirates
-- United States
-- ClimateWorks
-- International Energy Agency (IEA)
Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Dr. Steven Chu seems pretty excited about the International Clean Energy efforts and the opportunities it will bring going forward. Seems like he has been pursuing this goal for a while now in his own career:
Clean Energy Ministerial -- 2010
U.S. Dept of Energy Secretary, Steven Chu:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Countries participating in the Global Energy Efficiency Challenge aim to avoid the need to build more than 500 mid-sized power plants over the next 20 years while deploying 20 million electric vehicles by 2020. Other priority initiatives support the growing global market for renewable energy and carbon capture technologies, bring solar lanterns or other improved energy services to more than 10 million people without access to grid electricity by 2015, and encourage women to pursue careers in clean energy.
They have a long list of important Clean Energy projects and goals. If you drill-down into the links on this page, you will get to some serious "nuts and bolts" planning applications, as well as numerous research papers and presentations, etc:
Clean Energy Ministerial -- Initiatives
CleanEnergyMinisterial.org
-- CCUS - Carbon Capture Use and Storage Action Group -- Resources
-- C3E - Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Women's Initiative
-- EVI - Electric Vehicles Initiative
-- GSEP - Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership
-- ISGAN - International Smart Grid Action Network
-- SEAD - Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment Initiative
-- SLED - Solar and LED Energy Access Program
-- Bioenergy Working Group
-- Clean Energy Solutions Center
-- Sustainable Development of Hydropower Initiative
-- Multilateral Solar and Wind Working Group -- Resources
These efforts seem mostly of the Green Energy variety. Nuclear was not a major part of their plan, as far I can tell. The Blue Map plan above, assigns it only 6% of the Carbon-reducing role, by 2050.
Who knows -- these Clean Energy Ministry efforts might even work -- the players involved now are the source of "80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions" on the planet:
Accelerating the Transition to Clean Energy Technologies
U.S. Department of Energy, energy.gov, David Sandalow -- April 5, 2011
Countries represented at the Clean Energy Ministerial account for more than 70 percent of global GDP and 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The actions these nations take in the coming years will make a real difference to the health of the planet and the lives of its citizens. Seizing this opportunity to drive global progress on clean energy is critical to our future. So it’s a great privilege to be here, and I look forward to telling you about our progress after the meeting.
-- David Sandalow is the Department of Energy's Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs.
It's a start. It could work, assuming the current "seriousness" continues. But recall the warnings of the IEA [from the second intro link, above]:
“Extensive deployment of CCS [Carbon Capture & Storage] is critical to achieve climate change goals: around 100 large-scale projects are needed by 2020, but countries must accelerate their policy and funding support for the large-scale CCS demonstrations,” the IEA said.
Having Plans and Target areas are fine and good. But to make those plans happen, to reach those Targeted Goals -- it takes Implementation, it takes Investment, it takes Money, and political National will.
All of those seem to be in "very short supply" of late.
Very short "supply side".
Hmmm, and I thought "supply-side economics" was supposed to Create Jobs and Opportunities -- NOT Cut them ... very curious ...