Renewable energy prospects, the Russian experience in reducing energy consumption and production, and even cold fusion – laureates and experts of the Global Energy Prize discussed in Singapore the issues of energy efficiency and sustainable development. The third in the history of the Global Energy Prize Summit was held this year in one of the most innovative Asian countries.
The Global Energy Prize Summit was opened by Nobel Prize winner and the Global Energy Prize laureate Rodney John Allam from the UK. According to him, “oil will remain the main energy source for the next decades, as well as coal and natural gas. But with this growing trend of traditional fossil fuels consumption, the CO2 emissions will increase 6 times up to 2035. The solution is in infrastructure development, introduction of innovative production in the oil refining industry, implementation of centralized systems of harmful emissions minimization at energy objects. Speaking of energy efficiency in its everyday prospective – the future is in electric vehicles and transportation means on hydrogen fuel”.
However, participants’ views on major energy trends diverged. Revolutionary report at the summit was made by a member of the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee, professor of Tomsk, Milan and Nuremberg Universities Alexander Gromov. He thinks there will be no breakthroughs in renewable energy till 2050. Energy science should be focused on wireless energy transmission (the subject was worked through by Nikola Tesla), local energy production with low CO2 emissions and cold nuclear fusion. Cold fusion is also called a low-temperature nuclear reaction, compared with the traditional nuclear energy. The energy obtained in this way is completely waste-free and safe and, moreover, costs really cheap – about 0.001 cents per kilowatt. However, many scientists reject the possibility of cold fusion. Scientists discuss this topic globally. Cold fusion sometimes is even referred to as false science, along with a perpetual motion machine. Nevertheless, Alexander Gromov asserts that a number of power plants in the USA have been successfully operating on cold fusion reaction.
The Global Energy Prize expert, deputy head of Joint institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg Popel shared quite an opposite view. He told that the renewables now make more than 19% of global energy consumption, 78,4 % is a number for fossil fuels, 2,6% – for nuclear energy. Although state investments into renewables have been seriously reduced, the amount of energy produced from renewable sources is growing. “There is no way to discuss the sustainable development without renewables support” – he insisted. As of now, the leaders of renewables are the USA, China, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Russia is still far from its leading position in terms of the use of renewable energy, but it has achieved significant results in the field of energy efficiency, according to a representative of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation Sergei Abyshev, deputy director of the administrative and legislative department. He shared the Russian experience in the field of energy efficiency at the summit. He said: ” In the period between 2000 and 2013 the energy capacity of Russian economy decreased up to 34% which is more than in other countries with well developed industry and economy: in the US it’s 16%, in China and in Germany – 12%.”
However, energy efficiency in the home, not at work, is still a phenomenon far from the majority of Russians. The advanced foreign experience should be introduced in our country. Thus the Global Energy Prize laureate Thorsteinn Ingi Sigfusson (Iceland) touched upon energy-efficient construction in his report. He argues that his country achieved tremendous progress in the optimization of energy consumption for heating and cooling of buildings. Energy efficient future of a building industry is in the application of innovative eco-friendly materials, such as an eco-cement produced from volcanic lava in Iceland.
As a recall, the tradition of meeting of the Global Energy Prize laureates of different years with leading experts and government representatives was founded in 2012 in Moscow, where the first Global Energy Prize Summit was held. Last year the Summit took place in the EP in Brussels. Addressing the audience of the Global Energy Prize Summit’ 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “I am confident that this summit devoted to such a serious, multifaceted topic will be held in a constructive and meaningful way. It will allow to identify new areas of partnership – in the interest of sustainable development of national economies and provision of global energy security.”
