Renew On Line (UK) 26

Extracts from the May-June 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

9. International Clean Energy Initiative

With the US presidential elections coming up this autumn and his term of office coming to an end, President Clinton seems keen to make one last bid to get some progressive energy policies through the republican deadlock. So he is proposing a Clean Energy for the 21st Century: International Initiative to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies around the world, with a budget of a $200 million multi-agency effort, more than twice the existing allocation.

It’s portrayed as a way to encourage open competitive markets and remove market barriers to clean energy technologies in developing and transition countries (i.e. ex-Soviet) and to provide new incentives for clean energy technology. This initiative will, it is argued, promote U.S. exports and create high-value jobs, and will help countries power their economic development while fighting air pollution and climate change.

It has been pointed out that ‘developing country’ energy use will overtake that of industrial countries in the next 2 years, and that these energy technology markets are projected to total $4 to $5 trillion over the next 20 years and $15 to $25 trillion over the next 50 years. Developing country energy use is expected to account for three-fourths of the increase in global energy use between now and 2050.

Advanced, low-polluting energy technologies can, it is argued, provide these energy services efficiently, but existing markets often do not value these benefits. In addition, environmentally superior options often carry higher up-front costs, may be unfamiliar, or are perceived as more risky by decision-makers in developing countries.

The initiative builds on a recent set of recommendations by the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and is directed at levelling the playing field between cleaner U.S. energy technologies and services and polluting alternatives. The initiative aims to help lay the technical and policy foundation that will allow developing and transition countries to build a clean energy future, leap frogging past the polluting energy technologies used by the industrial countries, while building competitive markets open to U.S. firms.

The goals of this initiative include:

• Doubling clean energy technology exports by 2005, creating as much as $5 billion in new export revenues for U.S. companies and as many as 100,000 new U.S. jobs.
• Cutting energy use in targeted country buildings and appliances in half, through advanced building design tools, and building equipment codes and standards.
• Developing integrated renewable energy technologies that have the potential to power the full range of energy services for the 2 billion people in developing countries that do not now have electricity.
• Sharply reducing sulphur, particulate, and greenhouse gas emissions by developing advanced coal-fired power plants and low-cost hydrogen fuels.
• Maximising use of combined heat & power systems through technical and policy assistance.
• Reducing transition and developing country methane emissions from pipelines and other fossil sources by an amount equal to 100 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2005.
• Providing technical and policy support to encourage the development of natural gas grids.
• Reducing energy use in the industrial sector through the introduction of best practice methods, including advanced sensors and controls, and energy efficient motor drive systems.
• Conducting research in nuclear energy to address cost, waste, safety, and proliferation concerns.