Hopes are High for Renewables 2004

Bonn, Germany— For the first time in 23 years, renewable energy has moved to center stage as ministers from around the world gather for Renewables 2004. The stakes are high as proponents of a new energy future struggle against the fossil fuel dependence that still dominates many national economies.

Renewables 2004 has the potential to accelerate momentum to tip renewable energy technology into the mainstream of today’s energy systems, according to Christopher Flavin, President of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., Klaus Milke, Vice Chairman of Germanwatch in Bonn, and Rajendra K.Pachauri, Director General of the Energy and Resources Institute in India, and Chairman of the IPCC.

Worldwatch in Action: Special Report on the International Conference for Renewable Energies

Why a Conference on Renewable Energy?

The need for clean, renewable energy sources has never been greater. Throughout the world, energy use is rising rapidly in industrial and developing countries alike. And roughly 2 billion people still lack access to electricity and other modern energy services. This ever-growing demand, along with turmoil in the Middle East, rising gas prices, concern about climate change,
and as pollution-induced health problems all send a clear message: today’s global energy system, which depends heavily on fossil fuels, is unsustainable in economic, social, and ecological terms.

It is against this backdrop that, at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced that his government would host an historic international renewable energy conference. In June 2004, this pledge will become reality when government ministers, technology experts, business executives, and non-governmental leaders from around the world gather in Bonn, Germany, for Renewables 2004.

Solar, Wind, & Green Technology Market Starting to Boom

>From the New York Times

May 29, 2004

A Different Era for the Alternative Energy Business
By BARNABY J. FEDER

Sales of solar power equipment are hot. Wind energy projects are sprouting up across the landscape. Methane that builds up in the garbage in landfills is being sold in growing quantities to generate power. Alternative energy - solar, wind, geothermal and a grab bag of other sources - is doing better than ever.