‘Renewable energy can save Southeast Asia 2 trln usd’

Shifting to renewable energy could save Southeast Asian countries as much as two trillion US dollars in fuel costs over the next 23 years, or more than 80 billion dollars annually, environmental group Greenpeace said Thursday.

However, Southeast Asian energy ministers and officials from China, Japan and South Korea who joined them later at a meeting in Singapore on Thursday indicated that shifting would not be easy.
In a joint communique issued after their one-day meeting, they said that with robust economic growth, the region’s demand for oil ‘will continue to increase, especially in the transportation sector.’

They also ‘recognised that coal will play an important role in the regional energy supply,’ in sharp contrast with Greenpeace’s position calling for a moratorium on the building of new coal-fired plants.

They acknowledged efforts of some countries to explore the peaceful use of nuclear energy and encouraged dialogues to discuss more viable nuclear technologies.

Forbes