UN Secretary calls for a clean energy revolution
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According to Kuwait times sources, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a clean energy revolution that would reduce climate risks, cut poverty and improve global health. "Our challenge is transformation. We need a global clean energy revolution a revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all," he told participants in the fourth edition of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of this year 2011.
With the beginning of 2008 the prices reached 100 dollars per barrel, and since then prices have been rising till they reached their peak at 147 dollars per barrel in July 2008; this had a role in the significant redrawing of political and economic attitudes of many countries of the world. It is through the direct impact that the economies of oil countries flourished given the increasing prices and earnings, but as a result of the indirect impact, other non oil countries flourished, including Germany which imports all its oil requirements because it claimed the high oil prices benefits through its extensive trade with the booming oil countries especially its trade with Russia and the Middle East.
Ban's call came as the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the oil-producers cartel OPEC should be "alarmed" at the rising price of oil, now nearing 100 dollars per barrel. "The current price level is alarming; OPEC must continue to be alarmed about the future," Nobuo Tanaka told Dow Jones Newswires during a sideline interview.
He stressed the need to strengthen efforts on national fronts, noting Abu Dhabi's initiative to create a city powered solely by renewable energy as "just one of a growing number of initiatives in developed and developing countries that are bringing life to our vision of green, sustainable societies." He pointed out that China, which is considered a major polluter, "is now the world's second-biggest user of wind power and the biggest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic." "In China, a third of the stimulus package adopted in response to the global economic crisis was broadly environmental," he said. ...
He also hailed environmental efforts in various other countries, including Costa Rica, Nepal and Rwanda, as well as his own country, South Korea. "National action need not wait for the negotiations to advance. In fact, such steps can actually help negotiators to produce the agreements we need," he said. ...
The emirate in 2009 won the right to be home to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), despite criticism of its high carbon footprint. Abu Dhabi's planned renewable-energy-powered Masdar City, whose name means "source" in Arabic, is expected to cover six square kilometers and eventually to house 40,000 residents.