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05/22/2006

A New Energy Paradigm

by Lory Tan

I just returned from the second in a series of meetings of WWF’s Energy Task Force. Aside from looking backward at the energy decisions made over the last century, we looked forward 50 years. Many global energy concerns were taken up. Among them, we spoke at length of the characteristics of a new energy paradigm for the planet.

I spoke for the developing world, arguing for the inclusion of approaches that had particular relevance for us.


Greater decentralization of power sources. I was careful to point out that this was not a repudiation of the traditional centralized systems. Rather, it was a move to encourage a greater balance of central vs diffused sourcing, depending on what was more appropriate, available, affordable, implementable and socially acceptable. In some cases, it could mean buyer power from the people, rather than delivering power to the people. The principle here was that differentiated sourcing provided greater cost and generation stability because it was anchored on the distribution of risk.

Participative power planning, as opposed to the traditional top-to-bottom interventionist approach. This was a contentious issue. Some participants from industrialized societies felt that there was no time, or that there was no need for this. I argued that good governance remained a major shortcoming in developing countries and that stakeholder participation provided a way to steer clear of corruption and largesse. It also provided a vehicle to build stakeholder interest and support for the maintenance of habitats in areas utilizing ecology-dependent energy options

More imbedded power and indigenous fuels. I argued that so much of the cost of traditional fossil fuels was freight and handling activity that, in turn, generated more carbon emissions. I also pointed out that continued dependence on distribution and freight networks spanning the globe exposed the growing economies of the world to various threats of destabilization that could only lead to economic dislocation and slow development. This probability increases if the incidence of extreme weather events accelerates.

The reality of threat transfers. I revealed the common practice by industrialized nations to dump old, dirty technology in developing countries. I pushed for a global contract to stop this practice, and instead, encourage the transfer of means to developing countries through which they might all have access to the new, cleaner alternatives.

True cost versus direct generation cost. I encouraged the widespread adoption of true cost, a more holistic approach, as the way by which energy technologies are developed, evaluated, financed and implemented.

Many other concepts were taken up. Some were merely a re-visit of existing practices. Others were nothing short of revolutionary, and would require much more thinking. The long and short of it was that, in the view of WWF, there was hope. A combination of new, clean technology, greater efficiency and a global re-prioritization of fuel sources could still hold back irreversible climate change. We stand by our 2 degree Celsius target.

00:00 Posted by sr in Climate Change , Community , Sus Dev | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Sustainable Development