Prince saves his energy in dramatic appearance at climate conference

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, said the small emirate, which controls 10% of the world’s oil reserves, intended to become the world’s leading funder and researcher of renewable energy. “The evidence is now overwhelming that our responsibility must be balanced by a duty to find new sources of energy and protect the world…” said the prince. He said Abu Dhabi would join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US to set up an alternative energy university and would build the world’s largest solar power station.
The US secretary of energy, Samuel Bodman, said that more than $22 trillion of new investment was needed to meet extra global demand for energy within 22 years. “We cannot depend on hydrocarbons [such as oil and gas]. The world needs safe, reliable, clean affordable energy in considerably greater numbers than it now has. We require massive global investments…” he said. He acknowledged that the recent US switch to home-grown biofuels, made mostly from maize, was leading to the escalation of food prices around the world. “It is a matter of concern, but it is not devastating…” he said.

Jonathon Porritt, the UK government’s adviser on sustainable development, admonished the UN and energy companies for insisting that oil and gas could be part of the energy mix for a century. “Renewables are the only solution. The International Energy Agency’s projections [that oil and gas can be used for a century] are biased and inadequate. The challenge we face demands the complete transformation of economies. People do not understand the scale and speed of what is going to have to happen,” he said.

Vivienne Cox, chief executive of BP alternative energy, said there was a “growing momentum” for change. “Renewables are growing very fast. Wind grew 30% last year, biofuel 20% and photovoltaics by 40%. Now is the time to build a sustainable energy industry alongside traditional oil and gas.”

Guardian