ENVIRONMENT | Protecting our natural resources
29 February 2008
Renewable Energy Meeting Draws Policymakers, Business Partners
Participants will focus on deploying environmentally friendly technology
Washington -- For four days beginning March 3, leaders from international governments, businesses and nongovernmental organizations will convene for the 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) hosted by the United States government in cooperation with the American Council on Renewable Energy.
At least 16 countries from Africa, Asia, the European Union, Latin America and North America will discuss, as Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky phrased it, “how renewable energy advances our shared goals for increasing sustainable development and energy security while addressing the global challenge of climate change.”
Among other topics, conference sessions will address:
• Economic benefits of renewable energy,
• Market adoption and finance,
• Agriculture, forestry and rural development, and
• Various types of renewable energy sources.
A large trade show running concurrently at the Washington Convention Center will offer ideas to participants in between ministerial meetings, most of which will be open.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs Reno Harnish told America.gov the trade show is meant “to bring practical tools to the minds of policymakers … bringing together the best technology from all over the world.”
He added, “We want them to see this technology and how it applies to them and how they can bring it to their countries.”
A chief goal of WIREC is to encourage nations to pledge commitment to adopting renewable energy as a way to expand their economies, increase quality of life and help mitigate the effects of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have found that greenhouse gases resulting from human activity significantly contribute to rapid global warming.
Already 17 major economies, on an initiative put forward by President Bush, are working on short- and long-term targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Harnish anticipates that by mid-2008 those economies will develop a plan in which “these 17 participants will bind themselves through national regulation, through law and through voluntary measures to achieve that long-term goal.”
Keynote speakers at WIREC include Andris Piebalgs, commissioner for Energy, European Commission; Herman Scheer, general chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy and member of the German Bundestag; Nobel laureate Walter Kohn; and energy ministers from Chile, South Africa, Denmark and other nations.
Vinod Khosla, founder and chief executive officer of Khosla Ventures and Sun Microsystems, is among the business leaders who will speak.
WIREC 2008 is the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energy. Previous events were in Beijing in 2005 and Bonn in 2004.
More information on WIREC 2008 is available on the conference Web site.
