We’ve seen in a couple of previous posts how Denmark is making great progress in advancing towards a more sustainable future. Today we’ll analyze the case of Lolland, a Danish island that is combining wind power with fuel cells to come closer to a complete renewable energy system.
A consortium of nine companies called Dansk Microvarme is carrying out a 6-year project to develop the necessary technology and deploy it in the village of Vestenskov. The island generates 50% more wind power than it uses. The problem is that pure wind energy cannot be stored. So, when the wind doesn’t blow, there is a lack of energy, and the village might be forced to resort to fossil fuels. That’s when the idea of hydrogen and fuel cells comes in. The project being developed in Lolland consists of using excess wind power to obtain hydrogen, which is then used in fuel cells to generate electricity and heat.
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It seems like a school project, or a game, too perfect to be real. Yet it does exist; Samso Island, in Denmark, uses nearly 100% renewable energy. In 1997, it won a competition launched by the Ministry of Energy of Denmark, in which participants had to design a plan to make a specific location energy independent, by using only renewable sources. Since then, the island has been investing and developing wind, biomass and solar energy.
The population being around 4,300, it is more feasible to achieve such a demanding goal there than in larger cities.
The main business sectors of the island are agriculture, followed by tourism. Thanks to the renewable energy projects, which brought about 57 million euros in investment, between 1998 and 2007, each year hundreds of jobs were created. In one year the equivalent to 20 years of employment.
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Today starts the fifteenth meeting of the members of the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). They meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss how the world will jointly address climate change. The challenges are numerous, and so are the opportunities.
COP15 stands for Conference of the Parties, and the number 15 is there because this is the fifteenth meeting. The parties are 192, and they meet once a year to discuss the convention’s actions and developments in terms of addressing climate change.
The first COP was in Berlin in 1995.
The Danish government, being in charge of the organization of the conference, wants this COP15 to result in an ambitious global agreement, to which all countries adhere.
Many argue that this our last chance to achieve an international agreement to fight climate change, that establishes mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and the agreement hopefully approved and ratified these next two weeks will replace it and surpass it.
Yesterday, the UN chief on climate change Yvo de Boer said that: “Never in the 17 years of climate change negotiations have so many different nations made so many firm pledges together”. China, India, the US, Indonesia and others have announced their planned targets in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The amount of studies that prove that global warming is happening as a consequence of human actions keeps growing. Scientific evidence is more than enough. What we need is to show our concerns, let politicians know that we care. We need world leaders to realize the transcendence of the climate crisis, and act consequently. A legally binding treaty is possibly the only warrantee that countries will respect whatever pledges they make. Let’s hope one is achieved.
US president Barack Obama has announced he will be attending the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference next month, and will do his best to make a treaty happen.
We were talking yesterday about the importance the US has for the Copenhagen Conference. Being the US one of the most powerful nations in the world, and one of the main greenhouse gas emitters, it is crucial for the US to lead the way and accept to be legally tied to reducing its greenhouse gases. If the US does not get involved, many others might wonder, why should we?
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This week, negotiators from around 180 countries are gathered in Barcelona, Spain with the aim of preparing a manageable proposal of a treaty, to be discussed and signed in December, in the Copenhagen Conference.
They are in charge of a significant challenge; organizing all the different and competing proposals that have been made so far (regarding climate change), and creating a document that can be managed more easily.
Next month, representatives from 192 countries will be meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark to discuss and, hopefully agree on a global strategy to act against climate change. The Conference lasts from December 7 to December 18.
There are various points of view to whether Copenhagen will be successful or not. Some say it will not work, that there is not enough political will to compromise to a significant treaty. “It is realistic to say that in Copenhagen we will not be able to conclude a treaty, but it is important to lay down a political framework which will be the basis of the treaty” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Others emphasize the importance of Copenhagen, such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said that it is “our last chance”. Besides, the head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat warned that “time has almost run out”, and that “In Barcelona, all nations must step back from self-interest and let common interest prevail”.
The more we believe a successful treaty can happen, the more we show our conviction, the more chances there will be for it to work. Politicians need to know that we as citizens care about climate change, and that we demand a solution to it.
Via: COP15
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