8th World Renewable Energy Congress Nearly 1,000 delegates from 100 countries attended the 8th biennial World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) held recently in Denver, Colorado. Among the key issues addressed at the conference were the uncertain future of conventional oil and natural gas security, making the case tor further adoption of solar power, and the prospects tor extending the U.S. federal tax credit tor wind energy. Michael Jefferson, chairman of the WREC's Policies Committee tor a decade and former deputy secretary-general of the World Energy Council, provided a stark look at the future suggesting "Conventional oil and natural gas supply security is more threatened over the next two decades than in the last two, and the risks will increase of chronic disruptions." Jefferson, managing director ofa U.K. energy and environmental consultancy, maintained that energy security was threatened not so much because supplies of oil or natura! gas will run out, but because of import dependency tor both are rising rapidly and there will be huge and rising dependency tor supplies from Middle Eastern and some tormer Soviet republics within two decades. However, Mr. Jefferson said new renewable energy sources "will not be able to fiil the coming gap in fossil fueı supplies within the next 20, or even 40 years." Consequently, he said that the logic tor accelerating the dissemination of new renewable forms of energy has never been stronger. Notwithstanding this state of affairs Mr. Jefferson said "Regrettably the source which is widely preferred both from the environmental perspective and public support (active solar energy), stili only receives about $300 million in public sector research and development per year." "Much greater, and faster, change is needed to make our world less dependent on fossil fuel usage," Mr. Jefferson concluded. Addressing the business-related aspects of solar energy, John Mogford, BP group vice president tor renewables and alternatives, said solar energy needed to be brought into the "mainstream." Noting !hat BP had seen its solar business sales grow by 40 percent last year, Mr. Mogford said BP planned to "do more to make the case tor solar to demonstrate its attractions to the policymakers and customers. We need to spell out that solar is not simply a good option tor the environment, but also tor energy security and tor employment." He commented that success in establishing a free-standing solar market will depend on common cause between public and private sectors. "Governments need to create and incentivize markets through pro-green policies backed with consistent support. Businesses tor their part can drive tor continued cost reductions, technological breakthroughs, and marketing advances," Mr. Mogtord concluded. Meanwhile, David Garman, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) acting undersecretary, said the DEO was urging the extension of the federal production tax credit tor wind energy. Despite the absence of the tax credit, which expired last December and has lef! wind energy development stagnant this year, Mr. Garman said the Bush Administration understands "that [the] tax credit is very important to the wind energy. And we fully support the policy." Environmental impact of bioeconomy Emerging research, published in a special issue of the Journal of lndustrial Ecology examines the environmental implications of increased use of biobased materials and fuels. Articles in the special issue, published by MiT Press, analyze the opportunities, processes and environmental impacts of biofuels, bioplastics, biolubricants, and biosurfactants. Government initiatives to support biobased products are summarized and leading biobased product companies are profiled. Research published in this issue suggests that: Vast amounts of agricultural residues !hat are now lef! in cornfields could be used to make an environmentally superior form of ethanol fuel, but there are some environmental trade-offs; New screening techniques can identify environmentally promising bioproduction processes betore large investments have been made to develop detailed product intormation; When agricultural land is scarce, the environment benefits more from making bioplastics than biofuels. Robert Anex, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at lowa State University in Ames, lowa, was the guest editor tor the special issue. Support tor the special issue was provided by the U.S. National lnstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For more information, contact the editor-in-chief, Reid Lifsel, on tel: +1203432 6949, or indecol@yale.edu or see the journal (available free) in full text at: http://mitpress.mit.edu/ jie/bio-based "Kojenerasyon: Yüksek Verim, Temiz Çevre, Enerjide Yeniden Yapılanma" ♦ HABERLER/ NEWS Binci Dünya Yenilenebilir Enerji Kongresi Kısa süre önce ABD'nin Kolorado eyaletindeki Denver kentinde düzenlenen Bnci Dünya Yenilenebilir Enerji Kongresi Bienali'ne (WREC) 100 ülkeden yaklaşık 1,000 delege katıldı. Konferansta altı çizilen temel konular arasında alışılagelen petrol ve doğal gaz güvenliği hususlarının belirsiz bir geleceğe sahip olmaları, böylelikle güneş enerjisine uyum sağlamanın daha kolay olacağı, ayrıca rüzgar enerjisinde ABD federal vergi indirimlerinin yaygınlaştırılması konusundaki beklentiler gibi konular yer aldı. Eski Dünya Enerji Konseyi genel sekreter yardımcısı ve şu an WREC Politikalar Komitesi on yıl süreli başkanı olan Michae/ Jefferson geleceğe olumlu baktığını belirterek "Alışılagelen petrol ve doğal gaz tedarik güvenliği önümüzdeki yirmi yıl içinde son yirmi yıla göre daha fazla tehdit altında kalacak. Ayrıca riskler de kronik derecede önemli bozulmaları arttıracak" dedi. Jefferson yeni yenilebilir enerji kaynaklarının "önümüzdeki20 hatta 40 yıl içinde fosil yakıt tedariki alanında oluşacak boşluğu kapatmaya yeterli olamayacağını" da sözlerine ekledi. Biyoekonominin çevre üzerindeki etkileri Sanayideki Ekoloji Dergisi'nin özel sayısında yayımlanan ve bu konuda yapılmaya başlanan araştırmalar biyolojik kökenli malzeme ve yakıtların çevre üzerindeki etkilerini, biyoyakıtlar, biyoplastikler, biyoyağlayıcı ve biyo-yüzeyetkin maddelerle ilgili oluşan fırsatları, süreçleri inceliyor. Ayrıca biyolojik kökenli ürünleri desteklemek için hükümetin yaptığı girişimlerle ilgili bilgiler özet olarak dergide sunulmuş. Dergide yer alan araştırmaya göre mısır tarlalarında bırakılan büyük miktarlardaki tarımsal atıklar çevresel açıdan çok etkin bir etanol yakıtı üretmek üzere kullanılabilir ama çevre açısından bazı kayıplara da yol açabiliyor. Tarımsal alanlar azaldığında çevre biyo yakıt üretiminden daha çok biyoplastik üretiminde fayda sağlıyor. Özel sayıya gerekli destek ise ABD Milli Standartlar ve Teknoloji Enstitüsü tarafından sağlanmış. ENERJi & KOJENERASYON DÜNYASI 1 21
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