The Winds of Change

Did you know that enough sunlight falls on the earth in 1 hour to meet the whole world’s energy demand for a year? Exploiting this source of clean and readily-available energy must surely be a no-brainer.

Promoting renewable energy used to be seen as a fad for environmentalists. And there is no doubt that there are strong environmental reasons for reducing dependence on oil, coal and other fossil fuels that create almost 60% of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

When I worked on energy issues in Brussels 20 years ago there were plenty of sceptics who argued that the science didn’t prove that climate change was real and that no action was justified.

The evidence is now conclusive. Last week’s meeting of the UN’s panel of scientific experts found that it was 95% certain that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s. That evidence should be sufficient wake-up call for governments and societies to recognise that they have to do something about it. We only have one planet to live on and have to look after it.

But there are strong economic reasons for switching to alternative sources of energy too. All countries need secure sources of energy: no politician wants to be in charge when the lights go out. Security of supply comes from diversity of supply: finding new and different ways to generate electricity so that if one fails, others can be switched on.

This problem is clearly illustrated in Jordan where most of the country’s energy eggs were put in the basket of Egyptian gas. That basket is broken: the disruption to supply is one of the main causes of the country’s economic problems and the inevitability of rising electricity process. The country’s energy strategy must be based on finding new ways to generate electricity.

Energy demand in Jordan and world-wide is bound to grow and countries have to make themselves resilient to price shocks. Fossil fuel prices are volatile and can rise and fall depending on political crises in different parts of the world. It therefore makes sense to reduce dependence on imported energy and look at ways to generate energy in ways that are sustainable.

Renewable energy isn’t new. The heat of the sun and the force of the wind have been harnessed for centuries. What is new is that technology allows these sources to be used on a wide scale and connected to electricity grids and used to power houses, industries and offices.

The European Union has set a target of 20% of energy to come from renewable energy by 2020. Many countries, including the UK have introduced subsidies and financial incentives to promote wind, solar, biomass and hydro power. But worldwide, subsidies for fossil fuels outweigh subsidies for renewables by 12 to 1.

An excellent example of a new approach is The London Array, a project to erect 175 wind turbines in the shallow waters of the Thames estuary, just a few miles from central London. It will generate enough electricity to power half a million homes and reduce harmful CO2 emissions by over 900,000 tonnes a year. This project, like many renewable projects, has a positive spin-off in creating new industries and new jobs. The UK already has 110,000 jobs in the renewables sector, a figure set to rise to 400,000 by 2020.

Jordan has enormous potential in this field with plentiful sunshine and reliable winds. The government is actively promoting projects whereby the private sector can generate power and sell the excess to the grid at favourable rates.

It is also important to promote awareness of the value and importance of renewable. That is why the British Embassy launched a project last week with a Jordanian company Taqetna.

The Trip to Renewable Energy and Environment (TREE) programme is dedicated to teach and inspire school students to drive the development of renewable and motivate them towards understanding the economic and environmental advantages of promoting such technology. The project will install a permanent renewable energy system in Philadelphia School in Amman and get the students involved in looking after it.

Unlike coal and oil, renewable energy won’t run out. And unlike fossil fuels, the more you use, the cheaper it gets. The arguments in favour are so strong that we all need to get behind promoting and using them.