posted New York, May 14, 2005

This article is prompted by the May 12, 2005 event at the UN that was
advertised in the UN Journal as a Briefing on “Energy for sustainable
development; Issues, trends and perspectives”. Then other e-mails and
PR
material mentioned the same event as: “Key Energy and Climate Issues to
be
addressed at CSD 14 & 15″ or “Environmental Experts Examine
Sustainable
Global Energy and Land Development Policies”. I have no criticism here
against the speakers - there was indeed a good panel. The problem was
with
the organizers who did not even prepare a projector, so one of the
speakers
had to tell us about his presentation rather then make it. I am not
trying
to nit-pick the otherwise decent occasion - what I intend to say is
that at
the UN there is still no receptivity to the idea that sustainable
development will be possible only when we allow ourselves to loosen the
ties
that bind us to the oil folks.

One of the ways this event was publicized mentions the CSD 14 and CSD
15.
This will be the two year CSD cycle that was mandated to deal with the
subject of energy. As I mentioned already in my article on CSD13 of
April
27. 2005 ( at SustainbiliTank.info) dealing with CSD 13 and also the
establishing of the Bureau for the energy cycle - that bureau is
basically
made up from countries involved in the oil business. With the African
member not appointed yet, except for the Netherlands, I wonder who will
stand up for conservation and renewable sources of energy at that
Bureau.
Will projectors be made available to the folks interested in presenting
alternatives?

The three outside experts to speak at the briefing that was organized
by the
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Pace University, were:
Richard L. Ottinger, former US Congressman, Chair of the House
Subcommittee
on Energy, Conservation and Power, Dean Emeritus, Pace Law School;
Mohamed
El-Ashri, former CEO, Global Environment Fund and now with the UN
Foundation
in Washington; and Professor Adrian Bradbrook from the University of
Adelaide, Australia, he is a fellow of the Australian Institute of
Energy
and the International Energy Foundation. In 1984 he published a book on
the
“Solar Energy and the Law”.

The above three experts, were earlier in the day involved in
presenting, at
the UNCA Club, two volumes on energy law and on sustainable energy law
-
please link to SustainabiliTank.info book reviews.

Professor Ottinger introduced Mr. El Ashri that had prepared a
presentation
on Energy for SD and the MDGs. He had a power point presentation, but
as
said there was no projector. Mr. El Ashri said that CSD 14 - that is
supposed to be a review year - what will it show? “it will show that
there
was little progress since Johannesburg and the gap between rich and
poor
stayed the same - while energy itself is not an MDG - it is behind all
of
them”. Electricity grid extension is expensive; rural energy means
satisfying needed energy services. For him rural includes the
peri-urban as
it is clear that people migrate to the urban slams. The productive use
of
the small amount of energy that is there helps improve the life - i.e.
water
for irrigation, lighting for schools etc. 500 million from Germany
were
promised at the June 2004 meeting in Bonn on top of the previously
Johannesburg offered 500 million Euros. The Netherlands are also
providing
funds. El Ashri thinks like the IEA that we will have to look at
carbon
sequestration because oil & coal are going to be with us for a long
time.
He pointed at the GE statement that GE will double investments in
cutting
their emissions and expect t double profits. He also recognized the
statements made by the investment community two days earlier. He
believes
that mitigation costs less then adaptation. El Ashri stated that we do
not
need further conferences - we know what we have to do but must now do
it.
He also knows that the political instability will continue to push up
the
price of oil.

Professor Bradbrook stated that unless it will be done with SD, there
will
be no attainment of the MDG. China has already established laws that
will
advance the introduction of renewable energy and energy conservation to
China. Professor Ottinger pointed out that China has adopted a much
higher
miles/gallon standard then in the US and is bringing in the Prius
hybrid
vehicle.

David Freeman, the former US energy czar, former head of the Tennessee
Valley Authority, said that if everyone in China was going to have a
Prius -
we will all be out of oil. The problem is simply the quantity of
people and
the total use of oil in transportation. He advocates the use of
hydrogen
from renewable sources - “we must look on this with the urgency we had
when
we developed the atom bomb”. This is a world security problem of major
issue.
“Climate Change and security are the problems today - we must talk of
issues
people understand - we just need a few billion dollars to do the
technology
- wind-mill hydrogen and solar power.

Bradbrook picked up and added - The Energy Charter treaty in Europe for
energy efficiency of several years ago - we should have such an
international agreement.

Freeman continued - the problem is that we do not connect the issue
with the
gas tank. The serious problem is the addition of new cars, then, we
try to
put solar energy to the grid but not to the 1.3 billion people. What we
need
is a solar utility that collects the money in a decentralized way.

When the hour was over, after lunch, a few of the participants moved to
the
midtown building of Pace University on Fifth Avenue and 45 St. Others
came
there without having been at the UN. There the brain storming session
continued and Prof. Ottinger took notes. Yes, the moment we moved away
from
the UN it actually became more productive. One suggestion was to
create an
institutional link that would eventually produce a cadre of people that
could go back to their communities after having developed the problem
solving thinking skills needed to shake up the is.