Breaking the grid lock

Renewable technologies must first be used in the developed world, if they are to help bring benefit to the 2 billion people who have no access to modern energy. This was one conclusion of the G8 Renewable Energy Task Force, a multi-stakeholder group with members from government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the World Bank Global Environment Fund, G8 nations, and non-G8 countries from China through India to Brazil and the Caribbean. The Task Force's recommendations can be grouped into four main themes, addressing the questions: How do we bring down costs? How do we create the capacity necessary to install widespread renewables systems? How can we meet the unique financing needs of renewable energy? And, lastly, the issue of policies and subsidies. The cost issue is fairly straight-forward. The cost of every technology - whether mobile phones, gas turbines or farm technologies - comes down with experience. The more we make, the more ingenuity and creativity finds ways of doing things better with less. This involves developing the market - and the only energy markets big enough for this to be done cost-effectively are in the developed countries. Almost every one of these countries has already set itself targets or aspirations to generate, say, 10 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2010