Alternative Energy in the Spotlight at Rio+20

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At the Rio+20 conference, the International Renewable Energy Agency hosted a discussion panel on energy efficiency and renewable energy as solutions to make cities more sustainable.

The session was moderated by Dolf Gielen, IRENA’s director of Innovation and Technology Center. The discussion focused on actions that can be taken to drive renewable energy into cities.

Cities consume between 66 percent to 75 percent of global energy use. This share will continue to growth with an additional 1.5 billion people entering cities before 2030. The rate of urbanisation is particularly high in Asia and Africa, where urban populations will grow with 1.2 billion and 450 million, respectively. Although several new mega-cities will be established in the next 18 years, small-size urban towns (less than 0.5 million population) will be the fastest growing segment, according to 2004 UN figures.

City leaders are in a unique position to influence urban planning projects, or instigate local policies to promote sustainable energy. In cases when they are directly involved in the provision of electricity or heat to urban dwellings, they also have access to valuable data that can be used for forward planning, balancing of energy supply and demand, and improving energy efficiency.

“Sustainable energy has an impact on people’s quality of life. It can reduce local air pollution, fuel economic growth, improve housing, support the development of sustainable transport systems, provide modern energy sources and employment opportunities to those that are living in slums, and reduce the projected growth in urban solid waste,” IRENA said in a press statement.

The organization said there are several possible categories and combinations of activities that cities can use to introduce sustainable energy. These include sustainable urban infrastructure for low carbon cities, including sustainable transport, water, waste, material and nutrient management; urban design, green buildings, energy efficient (public) lighting, and district heating options; Smart grids and metering, distributed energy production, renewables, the introduction of carbon free energy carriers, and storage; sustainable policy development, including promotion of sustainable behaviours.

The panelists included Sigurd Heiberg (Chairman, UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy), Jim Walker, (Co-founder, The Climate Group), Josh Henretig (Senior Manager Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft), RA Rajeev (Commissioner at Thane Municipal Corporation, Thane City, India).

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