12 renowned energy experts from nine countries have launched an organization to assist governments on how to design "forward-looking energy policies."
The International Energy Advisory Council (IEAC) wants to help local and national governments design and implement policies where energy efficiency and decentralized renewable energy can replace or prevent moves toward fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Collectively, the team has advised 200 governments and organizations in 27 countries and 50 international organizations. They will also work with foundations, financial Institutions, corporations, and other stakeholders.
"The world no longer needs or wants centralized energy, fossil fuel or nuclear power plants, and we believe that 100% renewable energy systems are achievable based on a combination of energy efficiency measures and local decentralized renewable-energy systems providing the remaining energy requirements," says Allan Jones, who is chairing the group.
Allan Jones ran London’s Climate Change Agency and as Chief Development Officer, Energy and Climate Change for Sydney, Australia, he developed its ground-breaking Green Infrastructure Plan, setting the city on the path to 100% renewable energy.
Another member is US-based Amory Lovins – founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, which developed many of the most important energy breakthroughs, from negawatts that showed the value of energy efficiency to green building design, hybrid cars and the EV-grid connection.
Decades ago, Amory Lovins used his passive solar home (no furnace!) as a model – where he could even grow bananas in Aspen, Colorado:
Other members hail from the US, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, India and Japan. The group evolved out of the Seoul International Energy Advisory Council, formed to advise the city’s government. The resulting "One Less Nuclear Power Plant" strategy includes goals of running completely on solar and fuel cells; energy retrofits on 12,000 buildings; converting to LEDs for street lights; and a 150,000 member car-sharing program.
Business Renewables Center Launches
Rocky Mountain Institute is also one of four nonprofits that launched the Business Renewables Center today to help Fortune 100 corporations meet their renewable energy goals. While two-thirds of them have targets, they aren’t meeting them because of the complexity of incorporating large-scale renewable energy.
"We believe we can add another 60 GW of wind and solar capacity to the grid by 2035, even possibly 2025, which will nearly double installed U.S. capacity," says Rocky Mountain Institute.
Founding member corporations are Becton Dickinson, Bloomberg, eBay , General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Nestle Waters North America, Owens Corning, Salesforce.com, Sprint and VF Corporation. They hope to have 100 corporations participating by the end of this year.
"Instead of having hundreds of corporations reinvent the wheel, each member can get immediate access to the cumulative knowledge and wisdom of the industry. Each problem only needs to get solved once," says Rob Threlkeld, manager of renewable energy at GM.
Average emissions from the world’s 500 largest companies rose 3.1% from 2010-2013, accounting for 13.8% of all greenhouse gases, according to a study by Thomson Reuters and sustainability firm BSD Consulting. Top polluters: PetroChina Co Ltd, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. and steel manufacturer.
Here’s the International Energy Advisory Council website:
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