The Rocky Mountain Institute, reflecting on the latest IPCC report, says necessary reduction in emissions “is still possible if we act now, but it will take serious commitment—commitment to energy efficiency, to the renewable energy sector, to our forests and agricultural lands, and to advanced information technology”. Greening the supply chain, getting off the over-consumption bandwagon and transforming the way we produce goods will go a long way towards emissions reductions too, is the message Ken Hickson will be taking to the 2013 Green Summit in Taipei on 29 October  with the theme The Rise of the Green Economy2013 and the subsequent The 4th Taiwan International Green Industry Show (​TIGIS 2013) at Taipei World Trade Center. Read More

The Rise of the Green Economy, Taipei, Taiwan, 29 October 2013

Ken Hickson is one of the speakers at the 2013 Green Summit in Taipei on 29 October with the theme The Rise of the Green Economy. For more information go to: http://www.gvm.com.tw/event/201309green/201309green.html

It will be followed by the The 4th Taiwan International Green Industry Show (​TIGIS 2013), which  will prove a key moment that joined the international green community that turned up in record numbers for incredible prospects. Third edition of TiGiS (TIGIS 2012) let 180 companies use 321 booths — a 20% growth in exhibitors and 19% increase in scale.

TiGiS has attracted 6,402 professional buyers who came from 53 different counties who generated a projected US$28 million in business. Important buyers include trade missions from China, the Province of Ontario (Canada), Energa Obrot, an affiliate under the Energa umbrella (Poland’s top power supplier), and other big names such as KEPCO (Korea), SCHOTT SOLAR (Germany), Current Service, Tomoe Shokai (Japan), Senoz, Q-CELLS(Turkey), and Dalle Energy(Indonesia).

GREEN ENERGY

Taipei Times reported earlier this year that Taiwan’s green energy sector production value of equipment, components and parts expanded in the first quarter of the year on the back of the improving solar energy industry.

Green energy production value totaled NT$25.43 billion (US$849.11 million) last quarter, up 24.8 percent from the previous quarter. The figure contracted 8 percent from a year ago due to a high baseline, the researcher said.

Analysts attributed the upward trend to stabilizing prices of solar energy products and the withdrawal from the local market of major European solar energy companies.

The production value of Taiwan’s solar energy products for the first three months of the year jumped 27.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$22.78 billion, the report said.

Solar energy industry production value of equipment, components and parts accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total green energy sector in the first quarter, with a 7.4 percent share for wind energy and 3 percent for biofuels.

First-quarter production value of the country’s wind energy and biofuels reached NT$1.89 billion and NT$760 million, up 4.4 percent and 8.6 percent respectively, the report said.

The report forecast that Taiwan’s green energy sector total production value of equipment, components and parts will expand 2.1 percent year-on-year to NT$106.98 billion, with those in the solar energy, wind energy and biofuel industries rising 1.5 percent, 11.3 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

Source: www.taipeitimes.com/

Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Insititute (30 September 2013):

Climate Change—The Time for Action is Now

Let me start this blog by quoting—verbatim—several key conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Climate Change 2013, also known as the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5):

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia… The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased… Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850… Changes in many extreme weather and climate events have been observed since about 1950… It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century…

The IPCC does not mince words. And despite a frontal assault by climate skeptics, attempting to use the scientific nuances of the report to sow doubt, the conclusions stand as a rock. Some media outlets are emphasizing the small shifts in scientific understanding or the recent reduction in the rate of warming of the atmosphere (as opposed to oceans), leaving casual readers confused if indeed this is the most definitive assessment of the risks of human-caused warming. It is! The most rigorous scientific peer review process ever assembled by humankind is leaving no more room for doubt.

With a 95 percent certainty of the main conclusion that mankind’s emissions are the leading cause for continued climate change, the debate around the science is now truly settled. Yes of course, climate models will be fine-tuned further, and more research will shed light on many important aspects of our earth’s climate system. But at this point there is no more need for continued debate over the causes. We are now more certain than ever that burning fossil fuels and deforestation are responsible for the warming of the planet and its oceans, leading to the melting of glaciers, the retreat of arctic sea ice, the rise in sea levels, and the increased occurrence of extreme weather events.

It is strange how our assessment of risk, when it comes to the only planet we have to live on, seems out of kilter with the perception of other risks. If such dire warnings were conveyed to anyone with regards to one’s health, they would rush to seek treatment overnight. If a Wall Street trader was so warned with regards to his portfolio exposure, he would rush back to the office to liquidate his position. And if told we were facing such risk in an upcoming flight, we would no doubt decline to board the plane in question. However, it seems too difficult to take the challenging yet clear steps needed to change course on greenhouse gas emissions.

Inaction on climate change has calamitous costs—economical, social, and environmental. The IPCC report states: “Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components in the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.” More specifically, the IPCC for the first time has calculated a limit of the additional carbon that can be emitted if warming is to be limited to 2 degrees Celsius. Such a reduction in emissions is still possible if we act now, but it will take serious commitment—commitment to energy efficiency, to the renewable energy sector, to our forests and agricultural lands, and to advanced information technology.

Organizations such as RMI that are working to advance market-based solutions can have great impact. RMI’s Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era provides a roadmap describing how the United States can cut fossil carbon emissions by 82 to 86 percent by 2050, at a cost $5 trillion less than maintaining a business-as-usual scenario, stabilizing energy prices, and making the U.S. grid highly resilient. Market-based solutions empower anyone, including businesses, to act. With a roadmap such as that in Reinventing Fire, we can—and must—start to act today.

Source: www.blog.rmi.org/