More than 300 high-level government representatives from 96 countries – the highest number of countries ever represented at an IRENA Council – gathered today in Abu Dhabi to attend IRENA’s 11th Council meeting. At the outset of the meeting, the Council elected Kenred Dorsett, Minister of the Environment and Housing of the Bahamas as Chair of the meeting, and Ethiopian as Vice-Chair. Continue reading IRENA’s 11th Council Meeting Underway
IRENA Celebrates First 5 Years
Tonight at its headquarters in Masdar City, IRENA gathered Member State representatives, international stakeholders and local leaders to celebrate its fifth year of operations.
The evening highlighted the successes of IRENA and of the renewable energy sector over the last five years. In addition to substantial development and growth in renewable energy capacity, investment, jobs and policies, a flourishing system for international cooperation on renewable energy has emerged. IRENA’s engagement with more 175 countries is producing outcomes that are filling knowledge gaps, strengthening domestic capacities, informing policies, highlighting the business case and raising awareness about the many benefits of renewable energy. Continue reading IRENA Celebrates First 5 Years
Doubling Renewables Would Save 4+ Million Lives Annually
Doubling the global share of renewables by 2030 would dramatically decrease emissions harmful to human health – saving up to 4 million lives per year by 2030 – according to a brief released today by IRENA.
The True Cost of Fossil Fuels: Saving on the Externalities of Air Pollution and Climate Change, quantifies the social, economic and environmental costs related to fossil fuels. It finds that doubling the share of renewables by 2030 would decrease harmful emissions from pollutants such as ammonia, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and sulphur dioxide by 82%, 33%, 27% and 12% respectively. This reduced air pollution would result in savings of up to USD 3.2 trillion per year by 2030 due to the reduction of health-related costs. Continue reading Doubling Renewables Would Save 4+ Million Lives Annually
Renewable Energy Innovation Gets a Boost in Bonn
May 11-13 2016, IRENA hosted its first-ever Innovation Week in Bonn, Germany, gathering industrial and political front runners to present, discuss and explore innovative solutions within this year’s theme – The Age of Renewable Power. Event attendees worked to answer four key questions on renewable energy innovation in the power sector.
- What specific opportunities and challenges are considered within your country?
- What are the relevant innovations for your constituency?
- What are the priority areas for policy development to support and guide innovation efforts?
- Which gaps in international cooperation should be bridged and how?
Continue reading Renewable Energy Innovation Gets a Boost in Bonn
Tech Innovation: Grid Code Study Launch, Electric Highways & More
Energy experts, students and policy makers reconvened today for the second day of IRENA’s Innovation Week. Today’s focus was on technology innovations that can help achieve higher shares of renewable energy worldwide, both on and off the grid.
To further explore the specifics and practical applications of these technologies, participants attended deep-dive sessions on their area of interest, including smart mini and microgrids, energy storage, electric vehicles, electric highways and new market designs. During the deep dive session on reliability and quality, IRENA launched a new study on grid codes, which – while it may sound dry and technical – is a major tool to help scale up renewable energy worldwide. Continue reading Tech Innovation: Grid Code Study Launch, Electric Highways & More
IRENA Innovation Week Kicks Off in Bonn
Energy industry experts and stakeholders from more than 60 countries gathered today in Bonn, Germany to kick-start discussions on innovation in the renewable energy power sector. Rainer Baake, German State Secretary of Economic Affairs and Energy, set the stage for the event by stressing the importance of renewable energy and energy efficiency as a means to decarbonize the world economy. Without this, he stated, Paris Agreement ambitions will fall short, leaving everyone vulnerable to the myriad effects of a warming planet. Continue reading IRENA Innovation Week Kicks Off in Bonn
Renewable Energy Innovation: Growing our Future Power System
Whether it’s smarter wind turbines, more flexible solar photovoltaic technologies, or breakthrough algae biofuel, renewable energy innovation is grabbing headlines. And it should be, considering its importance to the global energy landscape.
By 2050, the global population will demand roughly 80% more energy than it does today. Meeting this growing demand poses a tremendous challenge, especially given the need to dramatically reduce emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
To do this, we must scale up renewable energy while phasing out fossil fuels. And we are making progress; renewable energy capacity additions hit a record high in 2015 and have outpaced fossil fuel capacity additions since 2011. But as the share of renewable energy continues to grow, we will need to discover new ways to manage and govern our energy systems, to promote and deploy renewable technologies, to finance their upfront costs, and to maximise their multiple benefits.
Enter renewable energy innovation. Continue reading Renewable Energy Innovation: Growing our Future Power System
