This was absolutely fantastic.
I'm sitting here listening to Jeremy Rifkin for the 4th time as he outlines what the European Union's doing to get off fossil fuel and nuclear power. Their five pillars are:
1. Twenty percent renewable energy by 2020. Germany started after 2005 - they achieved 25% early and have reset the goal to 35% by 2020.
2. Collect energy everywhere there's human infrastructure. Every building in EU will be energy positive. More than 1000000 buildings are now and it's created 250K net jobs.
3. Storage - compressed air, battery, pumped water, and hydrogen. There are two companies with hydrogen storage in place now.
4. A smart grid (the energy internet). Not a 'smart grid' where centralized power companies install proprietary meters that only feeds info to them, but a distributed 'internet' of a smart grid where demand and supply is matched house to house, village to village, and region to region. Most of the PV installed belongs to energy co-ops that trade power, not corporations or centralized power companies. Germany and Denmark are in the lead at the moment.
5. Establish transportation logistics, because electric vehicles are here to stay - EV and FCEV.
They're working on a 30 year infrastructure build-out/transition and they're ahead of schedule.
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/publications/doc/2011_energy2020_en.pdf
http://www.nacubo.org/Business_Offi...The_EU’s_Five-Pillar_Sustainability_Plan.html
The UN has adopted this system as well for the developing world. They have much less 'inertia' and will have distributed microgrids before the developed world, just as they jumped over copper and went straight to cell phones.
People criticize China's emissions, yet their current premier hired Rifkin's firm to help them transition. This led to an amendment to the party's 'constitution' that REQUIRES that they transition to an 'Ecological Civilization' where all construction - all future development - uses the best scientific principles and is in harmony with the planet's ecosystems.
Another brilliant talk was given by the head of the architectural firm that is responsible for the LEED building efficiency plan. He and the following speaker show how LEED, and the follow-on Living Building and restorative/regenerative building plans are being used today across the US - included in the rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas. This was the town leveled by the EF5 tornado in 2007 - and is the first town in the US being completely rebuilt to a LEED platinum level and with 100% green power (including at least 50% supplied by the force that destroyed the town - wind).
If you've been feeling kind of depressed about what's happening on the planet and really could use a solid dose of good news, these talks will be well worth your time. They're available to stream through early December.
Andy
