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 The Copenhagen Climate Summit has come and gone. Leaders convened and offered national targets, with everyone waiting for the world’s two largest CO2 emitters, the US and China, to step up. The results were disappointing to environmental groups, and utilities got a reprieve from any specific targets or timetables. We “kicked the can down the road” instead of getting a real agreement.
The last decade was fraught with new challenges: terrorism, dot-com bubble, credit crisis, global economic slowdown, and climate change. When written in Chinese characters, the word crisis is composed of two characters — one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. China has seized that opportunity and is rapidly ramping up its renewable sector. In just a few years, China has 80 wind manufacturing firms while the U.S. has 20. China has 434 solar manufacturing firms while the U.S. has just 46.
The attached graphic from the Earth Policy Institute shows the dramatic growth of wind development, with the U.S., Germany, Spain and China leading the charge. Today, renewables supply just 15% of total energy consumption, while fossil fuels dominate electricity production and transportation fuel needs. The “design revolution” in energy has begun, and it will create millions of clean jobs in the process.
I’d like to share with you GENI's results for 2009 and thank you for the voice and support you have given to GENI. With a small and very committed staff, we reached leaders around the world, launched several new projects and mentored 47 new interns. Our work is offered free to everyone in order to accelerate the interconnection of renewable energy in all nations. Thank you for making this possible.
In partnership for the planet, |
