Drew Corbyn at Practical Action has a nice post on the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF). Beyond the focus on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance at the event, here are the highlights;
“The UN [is] making 2012 the Year of Sustainable Energy, and VEF delegates discussed three new targets for the World to set its sights on.
- Universal Energy Access by 2030.
- Global electricity production from 30% renewable sources by 2030.
- Global energy intensity reduced by 40% by 2030.”
Might the Microformer play a role in the implementation of these plans?
“[T]here is still no agreed definition about what ‘energy access’ actually means.”
Is it enough to focus on electric grid connections in the home to determine that energy access has been achieved? As this post points out, access to electricity is not the only determinant of the attainment of energy access.
“Practical Action’s CEO Simon Trace and Policy Director Andrew Scott were panellists – championing a definition of energy access based on people’s energy needs in the home, for earning a living and using public services.”
“[T]he ‘speech of the conference’ [award] went to the driving force for energy access in the UN – Kandeh Yumkella. Kandeh referred to his village in Sierra Leone when he said that access to energy is more than just meeting people’s basic needs for cooking, lighting or earning a living. Access to energy is about gaining individual freedom.”
Let’s modify that slightly: Access to energy can enable the attainment of individual freedoms.