Greenpeace Presents Blueprint for a Sustainable Future
Greenpeace has published the second edition of their Energy [R]evolution report, which has been updated with the latest economic, technical and population data.
The report provides a blueprint that the world can use to cut emissions, phase out nuclear power, save money and maintain global economic development - all without fuelling catastrophic climate change.
The report shows how the planet can get from where we are now, to where we need to be.
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Currently, developed countries use much more energy per capita than developing countries.
The report explains that by 2020 developed countries such as USA, Europe and Australia are projected to use two to three times more energy per capita than China or India. And because of this, those developed countries need to reduce their carbon emissions much earlier than developing countries.
Greenpeace say,
In the global fight against catastrophic climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector must have peaked by 2015 and have returned to current levels by 2020.
The report says that industrialized economies such as the USA, the European Community and Australia, have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30% below 1990 levels.
It also says that developing countries need to stabilize their carbon emissions by 2020, then start reducing emissions.
3 Step Approach
The blueprint provides a 3 step approach:
Step 1: Electrical efficiency
- Exploit all technical potential for electrical efficiency via technical standards
Step 2: Structural changes
- Change the way we produce energy in large centralised power stations towards a decentralised energy system, using large-scale renewable resources that use locally available energy sources such as wind, sun or geothermal.
- Cogeneration – end the huge amounts of waste energy via cooling towers
Step 3: Energy-efficient transport
- Build up efficient public transport systems
Implement efficient cars, trucks, etc.
5 key Principles
Greenpeace say that the report is based on proven technologies the following key principles:
- Equity and fairness
- Respect natural limits
- Phase out dirty, unsustainable energy
- Implement renewable solutions and decentralise energy systems
- Decouple growth from fossil fuel use
Greenpeace’s Message to the World Governments
In the report, Greenpeace makes a plea to governments around the world to:
- Phase out all subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy
- Internalise the external (social and environmental) costs of energy production through “cap and trade” emissions trading
- Mandate strict efficiency standards for all energy-consuming appliances, buildings and vehicles
- Establish legally binding targets for renewable energy and combined heat and power generation
- Reform the electricity markets by guaranteeing priority access to the grid for renewable power generators
- Provide defined and stable returns for investors, for example by feed-in tariff programmes
- Increase research and development budgets for renewable energy and energy efficiency
The Report
The Energy [R]evolution was developed in conjunction with specialists from the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.
View a Summary (PDF, 16 pages) | View the Full report (PDF, 212 pages.
Tags: Climate Change, greenhouse gas, Greenpeace, Sustainability
November 5th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Great report from Greenpeace. Cogeneration is an especially appealing prospect. I’m associated with Recycled Energy Development, a company that does cogeneration. In essence, RED turns manufacturers’ waste heat into clean electricity and steam, thereby cutting power costs and greenhouse gas pollution at the same time. Studies done for the EPA and DoE suggest this could reduce our global warming emissions by 20%. That’s as much as if we took every car off the road.
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:29 pm
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