FACTBOX - Earth Summit seeks to promote renewable energy
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
A follow-up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, it aims to map out a concrete set of action plans to reduce global poverty and the North/South income gap in a sustainable way without inflicting irreparable damage to the environment.
Goals of the 10-day summit include widening poor nations' access to energy and curbing global pollution by promoting renewable energy sources like solar or hydropower.
Following are some facts and figures on the key issues and the United Nation's goals regarding energy.
ACCESS TO ENERGY: About two billion people, a third of the world's population, lack access to modern energy sources, including electricity or even fossil fuels.
They rely on firewood or biomass - crop residues or animal dung - for cooking, heating and lighting. About 2.5 million women and children die every year from respiratory infections caused by primitive cooking stoves.
Many people in developing nations, especially women, spend long hours searching for firewood, reducing their chances of education and development. As the population swells, rising demand for firewood leads to deforestation.
CONSUMPTION: Fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, are a major source of pollution and are blamed for global warming. They account for about 80 percent of total global energy consumption, down from 86 percent in 1971.
Nuclear energy accounts for about 7 percent while hydropower, other renewables and fuels like firewood account for about 13 percent.
Per capita energy use is highest in developed nations, where each person consumed the equivalent of 6.4 tonnes of oil per year in 1999 or 10 times as much as in developing countries. The United States is the top consumer.
About 4.5 percent of the world's energy comes from modern renewable sources, up from 3.2 percent in 1971. Hydropower is the biggest such source, but large-scale schemes like dams are often controversial.
Modern biomass - burning firewood and other fuels in developing nations in more efficient cookers - and geothermal systems are the best hopes for reducing smoke-related diseases in the short term.
Wind and solar power have a big potential for growth but account for just 0.02 percent of total energy supply.
POLLUTION: Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels accounts for 75 percent of the gases blamed for global warming.
These "greenhouse gases" are linked to climate change which leads to more storms, floods and rising ocean levels.
Many nations have signed the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but the United States has pulled out of the pact.
Washington argues Kyoto will be too expensive for the U.S. economy and unfairly excludes fast growing developing nations like China and India.
South African President Thabo Mbeki said if the Chinese consumed as much oil per capita as U.S. citizens, China's oil consumption would surge to 80 million barrels per day, outstripping current world production of 74 million barrels.
PROPOSALS:
Among others, the summit will consider proposals to:
- Achieve a fourfold increase in energy and resource efficiency in developed countries by 2012.
- Diversify energy supply by developing cleaner and more efficient fossil fuel technologies and raise the share of renewable energy sources. But nations at the summit disagree on targets for renewable energy. The European Union wants the world to get 15 percent of its energy from renewables by 2010. The United States and some others oppose any target.
- Encourage the use of natural gas, especially in urban and industrial areas, and eliminate the practice of gas flaring.
- Promote cooperation between oil-consuming and oil-producing nations to reduce big price swings.
