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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SG who wrote (8734)	11/1/2008 10:50:57 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24233

I should get more ammo. IEA cites gains from energy efficiency By Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent , Financial Times, 29 Oct 2008 Developing countries could save hundreds of billions of dollars by investing in energy efficiency rather than focusing on energy production, a new report has found. To achieve a 22 per cent increase in energy availability in developing countries by 2020 would cost about $2,000bn, according to the International Energy Agency. But McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consultancy, has found that the same end could be achieved for $90bn a year by focusing on energy efficiency improvements with positive returns. The study found that developing countries could halve the growth in their energy demand each year using simple measures. At present, energy demand in developing countries is growing at a rate of about 3.4 per cent a year, which is leading to a similar acceleration of greenhouse gas emissions. But developing countries could choose more energy efficient products and means of generating electricity, the researchers said, rather than going down the same high-energy demand and high-emissions path to economic growth that developed countries took in the past. Simple measures such as using more energy efficient cars and home appliances, better insulating buildings and using low energy light bulbs rather than the high-consuming kinds would cut the growth in energy demand to 1.4 per cent a year, McKinsey estimated. This would also bring about a dramatic reduction in energy costs for poor countries, of $600bn a year by 2020. Scaling back energy demand growth to this extent would leave energy demand in these regions about 22 per cent lower in 2020 than it would otherwise have been, which would represent a cut equivalent to the entire energy consumption of China today, the company found. Under current policies, energy demand in developing countries would increase by 65 per cent by 2020, representing 80 per cent of global energy demand growth. Developing countries are also spending 150 times more than they need to on power, because of their lack of electrification, a new report from the London School of Economics has found. Lighting using kerosene lamps, candles and batteries costs much more than mains electricity and produces more greenhouse gas emissions, according to the study from the London School of Economics. Battery-powered lighting costs 10 to 30 times more than mains electricity, while kerosene lamps cost 70 times and candles 150 times more. The report found that investments in micro-electrification – such as solar panels and small-scale wind turbines – had seen returns on their capital of more than 20 per cent. An annual global investment of $170bn in increasing energy efficiency in developing countries 2020 would halve greenhouse gas emissions, while producing a return on investment of about 17 per cent, the LSE said. A separate study from the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and Greenpeace International found that invseting in renewable power generation and energy efficiency would create an industry with $360bn in annual revenues and provide half of the world's electricity, cutting future fuel costs by more than $18,000bn. "Strict efficiency standards make sound economic sense and dramatically slow down rising global energy demand," said Sven Teske, senior energy expert at Greenpeace. money.ninemsn.com.au