Winds of Change (eBook)

East Asia's Sustainable Energy Future

Noureddine Berrah, Subodh Mathur, Ferdinand Vinuya, Xiaodong Wang (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2010 | 1. Auflage
The World Bank (Verlag)
978-0-8213-8502-9 (ISBN)

Infos

This report examines East Asia's energy future over the next two decades through two energy scenarios. It outlines the strategic direction of East Asia's energy sector to meet its growing energy demand in an environmentally sustainable manner, and presents a pathway of policy frameworks and financing mechanisms to get there.
The report concluded that it is within the reach for East Asia to stabilize CO2 emissions by 2025, improve local environment, and enhance energy security, without compromising economic growth, through large-scale deployment of energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies. It is in developing countries' interests to get onto the sustainable energy path.
To achieve these goals requires that the governments in the region take immediate action to transform their energy sectors toward much higher energy efficiency and more widespread use of low-carbon technologies. The window of opportunity is closing fast, as delaying action would lock the region into a long-lasting high-carbon infrastructure.
This shift requires major domestic policy and institutional reforms. The first step is to improve energy efficiency, which requires a mix of energy pricing reforms, regulations such as energy efficiency standards, and financial incentives are required to overcome the market barriers. The second step is to scale up renewable energy, which needs to provide financial incentive policies for renewable energy such as feed-in tariffs or tax on fossil fuels. Furthermore, accelerated research and development are important for innovation and new technologies. Finally, building low-carbon cities is essential to contain the rapid urban energy growth through compact urban design, public transport, clean vehicles, and green buildings.
These countries cannot do it alone. Developed countries need to transfer substantial financing and low-carbon technologies. The World Bank Group is committed to scaling up policy advice, knowledge sharing, and financing in sustainable energy to help the region's governments make such a shift. The technical and policy means exist for such transformational changes, but only strong political will and unprecedented international cooperation will make them happen.

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East Asia has experienced the fastest economic growth in the world over the last three decades, accompanied by a 10-fold gross domestic product increase and rapid urbanization. Energy consumption has more than tripled during this period and is expected to double over the next 20 years. This remarkable trend has led to twin energy challenges in the region-environmental sustainability and energy security. Written for an audience of energy policy makers and practitioners, Winds of Change explores the region's energy future over the next two decades through two energy scenarios. It outlines the strategic direction East Asia's energy sector must take to meet its growing energy demand in an environmentally sustainable manner, and presents a pathway of policy frameworks and financing mechanisms to get there.The six East Asian countries-China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam-examined in this book could, with the right policies and financing, stabilize CO2 emissions by 2025, improve their local environment, and enhance energy security without compromising economic growth. They must move their energy sectors toward much higher efficiency and more widespread use of low-carbon technologies, while obtaining substantial financing and low-carbon technologies from developed countries. This clean energy revolution requires major policy and institutional reforms, including energy pricing reforms, regulations such as energy efficiency standards, financial incentives such as feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, and accelerated research and development. Finally, building low-carbon cities will be key to containing the rapid urban energy growth through compact urban design, public transport, clean vehicles, and green buildings.The window of opportunity is closing fast-delaying action would lock the region into a longlasting high-carbon infrastructure. The technical and policy means exist for such transformational changes, but only strong political will and unprecedented international cooperation will make them happen.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.6.2010
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft
• ISBN-10: 0-8213-8502-X / 082138502X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-8502-9 / 9780821385029