Paris, July 9 (EFE) .- The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned today that to prevent global warming from exceeding controllable levels, investment in energy efficiency and clean technologies must be quadrupled.
"If we want to keep the global temperature rise to less than two degrees, investment in energy efficiency and clean technologies would have to increase fourfold," said IEA Director Nobuo Tanaka, a Japanese.
That would mean devoting $400 billion more annually over the next 20 years, when the various government plans against the crisis announced so far provide for $100 billion for those issues, out of a total $2.6 trillion.
According to the IEA, energy efficiency can contribute 54% of the effort to halve carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions by 2050 so that the rise in global temperature does not exceed the aforementioned two degrees from which it is considered that climate change would have uncontrollable consequences.
The rest of that decrease would be achieved with the development of renewable energies, more nuclear power plants and the implementation ofCO2 capture and storage technology from 2020, according to this body that brings together the large energy-consuming countries members of the OECD.
Its experts estimate that to meet the 2050 targets, CO2 emissions would have to be limited to26 giga-tons in 2030, while if things do not change, the volume that will be reached that year will be 41 giga-tons.
The agency, which expressed its satisfaction with the G8's commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to the 1990 level, urged governments to "adopt stable and transparent policies that promote energy investment and improve its regulation in futures markets."
It is about combating the uncertainty and volatility of the energy markets, which are responsible for a 21% drop compared to 2008 in investment plans in prospecting and extraction in the gas and oil sectors, which represents about 100,000 million dollars.
The IEA also stressed that it is in the field of energy efficiency "where governments can make a difference" in cutting greenhouse gases.
In that regard, Tanaka said that if all the recommendations of his organization were implemented on a global scale, some 8.2 giga-tons ofCO2 could be avoided by 2030.
The IEA is currently working on 19 thematic programmes, including the development of solar, wind, hybrid and electric vehicles,CO2 capture and storage, nuclear power plants and improvements in the cement industry (one of the most emissions).
All of them together would make it possible to achieve almost 90% of the global emission reduction target of 50% by 2050.
Tanaka stressed that "the time has come" for the capture and storage ofCO2 because if the demonstrators of this technology are not put in place in the next decade, it will not arrive in time to limit emissions to controllable levels.
Via: finanzas.com
Authors: TECNOSOSTENIBLE - Engineering of comfort and energy efficiency
