Scaling Alternative Energy in Emerging Economies
Emerging economies face two major energy challenges today—energy insecurity and climate change. These challenges are further exacerbated by the need to provide impoverished citizens access to basic energy services while also limiting greenhouse emissions in a way that doesn’t limit economic growth and development.
The solution to these seemingly conflicting goals is cleaner alternative energy technologies that allow both the diversification and the decarbonization of the energy mix. Energy and climate change experts from around the world gathered for the “Scaling Alternative Energy: The Role of Emerging Markets” dialogue, a joint-initiative of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) and the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) at The Fletcher School.
The purpose of the dialogue was to discuss how the deployment of various renewable energy technologies, cleaner and more efficient fossil fuel technologies, and other near-zero carbon technologies might be scaled-up in emerging markets and the challenges that exist to realize the scale-up.
Most of the speakers acknowledged the increasingly significant role that alternative energy technologies are playing in emerging markets, notably in China. Polly Shaw, Director of External Relations at Suntech, said that energy planning at the macroeconomic level, including the use of alternatives, was a huge focus for the Chinese government. She also pointed out that Chinese solar manufacturers were growing at a faster rate than in any other country.
Amory Lovins, Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute, highlighted China’s recent achievement in the wind sector, beating its own 2010 target in 2007. Similarly, Isaac Berzin, Chief Technology Officer of Greenfuels, a company focused on promoting carbon absorbing algae technology, expressed concern over China’s disrespect for intellectual property protection. He believes that such an attitude is likely to limit the transfer and scaling-up of more advanced energy and CO2 mitigation technologies.
Despite some advances in the alternative energy field, big emerging economies like China and India are expected to remain dependent on fossil fuels in the near future, leading to a surge in global CO2 emissions. To tackle this, some speakers stressed that the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies is critical. The technology is currently already in use in the oil industry.
“Policy-driven markets are not going away,” said Joseph Stanislaw, former CEO of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Speakers acknowledged that despite limitations, governments have a role to play in the scaling-up of alternative energy technologies through fiscal incentives, development of markets, funding research and development of new technologies, and transparent and unambiguous regulatory frameworks.
Clifford Polycarp, MALD '09