51 countries have signed an agreement to form an international agency to support renewable energy development.
If it seems like the world is rallying around renewable energy, that’s because it is. And why not? With huge recent fluctuations in oil prices, the economy on its knees, and climate change at our doorstep, windmills and solar panels have become iconic symbols of energy independence, a new green-collar job sector, and a response to climate change. Now, an international agency is emerging to lead the charge on a global scale.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will integrate regional clean energy progress into a coordinated, global effort. It will provide political recommendations and identify funding for renewable technologies. Moreover, IRENA will seek to even the playing field for countries that have had difficulty affording investment in renewable energy. To this end, the agency will fund its budget with contributions by member-countries on a sliding scale with unindustrialized countries paying less.
“Acting as the global voice for renewable energies,” says the agency’s website, “IRENA will provide practical advice and support for both industrialised and developing countries, help them improve their regulatory frameworks and build capacity. The Agency will facilitate access to all relevant information including reliable data on the potential of renewable energy, best practices, effective financial mechanisms and state-of-the-art technological expertise.”
The agreement recently signed in Madrid signaled a successful Final Preparatory Conference, the second in a series of three rapid steps taken to establish IRENA. Earlier this year, wind energy rich Germany got the ball rolling with an invitation to 60 countries to meet at the Preparatory Conference in Berlin. The third and final step needed to establish the agency, the Founding Conference, is slated for January 26, 2009. Due to the enormity of the challenge of developing renewable energy infrastructures around the world and the urgency of curbing climate change, the nascent agency plans to begin operating immediately after it is founded.
View a PDF list of the participating countries.
We can all contribute to cleaning up the environment if we would move from gas combustion engines to electric vehicles.
This is great, Electric Vehicle advocates need to check this out.
First legitimate electric car coming to the market.
Safe, reliable and affordable.
Article:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/electric-c100-vehicle.html
Video-You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=begreenadvocate&search_type=&aq=f
BeGreen Advocate
We must not as a nation forget the role the high cost of our dependence on foreign fuel played in the demise of our automakers. The exorbitant cost of gas the past year has done serious damage to our economy and society. We need to take lessons from our mistakes.WE also need to get out from under the grip our dependence on fore gin oil has on us. Why not take some of these billions and invest in America becoming energy independent. Driving an electric car would cost the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon. The electricity could be generated by solar or wind power. Green technology would create millions of badly needed new jobs. What America needs is a green revolution. It is time for us to move forward with alternative energy. I just read Jeff Wilson’s new book The Manhattan Project of 2009. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about the downward spiral of our economy and it’s effect on our society and would like to see our country become energy independent!
LOL, Im sure Dictator Bush offered lots of “Lip Service”. What a joke.
jess
http://www.anonymity.at.tc
Our last stimulus package cost 168 BILLION. It didn’t do a thing to improve our economy. Not enough credit is being given to the role the record breaking cost of gas played in the downward spiral of our economy. The average family broke the budget filling up the car alone. Then to add insult to injury, every consumer product cost us more due to increased production and shipping costs. Food, clothing, everything imaginable now cost more as well. So, we cut back and this sadly results in even more jobs being lost! OPEC responds to our lowered consumption by cutting production and they continue to cut and will do so until they get the price per barrel back up. We have so much available to us in the way of FREE energy sources such as wind and solar. We have modern technologies such as hybrid and electric plug in cars. Why don’t we invest in America becoming energy independent. 168 billion would go a LONG way towards getting some of these things set up plus would create millions of badly needed new jobs. We are using oil at the rate of 2x faster than new oil is being discovered. World demand is rising as 3rd world countries become more modernized and populations explode. Jeff Wilson has a new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW. I highly recommend this book for anyone worried about our economy and our dependence on foreign oil.
http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
If we only switched to solar and wind energy, we’d be able to spend our enormouse energy budget to fix health care or another great challenge facing us today.
I am thinking of installing solar panels at home once their price get a bit lower.
Yea, I doubt that will happen. When I look online, in stores, and in magazines, solar stuff is WAY more expensive than the usual stuff. But good desicion!
I think when solar and wind become more mainstream their prices will naturally fall. It’s the supply/demand thing. Yes, I live in SW FL the supply of wind and sun is infinite. I wish I had a little turbine out in my backyard spinning away with the wind.
I am thinking of installing solar panels at home once their price get a bit lower.
Here’s a resource worth taking a look into for anyone in the USA considering solar panels: http://www.renewzle.com/start
It is a great thing to see so many nations in support of developing renewable energy. It is going to be a global effort if we want to end our dependency on oil and put up a fight against global warming.
Wind power is sustainable, clean power. You get what you see and what you pay for up front – no hidden costs for spent fuel disposal! How the individual American choses to use that power is another thing. Americans will have to “adjust” the “American Dream” to more closely fit reality! we need more efficient refrigerators in our homes. We need to put more cost-effective sewage disposal systems on the law books – Composting over septic for example – we must preserve topsoil. We need to outlaw all other than LED lights to bring their price down! We need to better develop microwave cooking at solar and wind supplied voltages. We need to use the power from windmills in the least wasteful fashion! Our environment is collapsing under the pressure of our upper-class high flying lifestyles and we will pay with lead, cadmium selenium and mercury poisoning, dead lakes, dying forests and sick populations, unemployment and grinding poverty for many while a few enjoy riches. We are not living in sustainable fashion, and adding a few windmills to the horizons will not redeem us. The paradigm shift brought on by the depression now upon us, will chastise us and purify us to a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, where wind mills will be a respected source of power, and pig farms will no longer smell, but produce usable methane and clean fertilizers – this is not a dream land, this is the reality available to Americans once we unhook from our current direction! We will unhook, the great depression will guarantee it!
hope they do more than talk about it for the next decade
I have just taken your suggestion to visit the IRENA website and read their brochure detailing their operating plan. I was curious to see a list of countries which have thus far signed up, which is provided therein. Some oil producing nations which have joined up are Germany, the U.K., Denmark, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Countries I would like to see on the list are Russia, China, U.S.A., Venezuela and Canada. These and others do belong in various capacities to the U.N. and related organizations concerned with econimic and energy development. International relations policies will play a crucial role in the success of policies developed by this and other existing groups. Kudos to the leadership of Germany, as a strong economic power in Europe in taking this initiative. Every positive step will elevate awareness and efforts to meet our environmental challenges.