Sustainable Energy for Island Economies:
A High Impact Opportunity of SE4ALL – Vision 20/30
This session, moderated by Nasir Khattak, Climate Institute, presented the global programme “Sustainable Energy for Island Economies,” launched in 2000 and included in 2012 as one of the “high impact opportunities” under the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, with some panelists showcasing projects from their island states. Continue reading »
Thursday, July 26, 2012 – Lisa Friedman, E&E reporter
The Dominican Republic has “extensive” solar and wind resources and will be able to meet the government’s ambitious renewable energy goals, a new study has found. Yet the Caribbean nation’s road map — among the first of its kind — cautions that while the Dominican Republic has made important strides in weaning itself off fossil fuels and reducing its carbon footprint, it still needs stronger domestic policies and international funding to succeed.
“I think the Dominican Republic has to be credited. It’s a developing country, and it has really gone through the paradigm change that I wish so many other countries would have already gone through,” said Alexander Ochs, director of climate and energy at the Worldwatch Institute, which developed the study. “They have come a long way, and they have a long way to go,” Ochs said. But, he added, “I think the Dominican Republic can become a model country.”
International Business Times, 24 July 2012, 08:53 BST
According to a new report released by the Worldwatch Institute’s Climate and Energy Program, the Dominican Republic will benefit economically, socially, and environmentally if it relied more heavily on renewable energy sources and less on fossil fuels. The report, Roadmap to a Sustainable Energy System: Harnessing the Dominican Republic’s Wind and Solar Resources, assesses the Caribbean country’s wind and solar energy resources and provides a policy roadmap for how it can cost-effectively harness its renewable potential and reduce its dependence on energy imports.
“Developing a stable energy infrastructure that can withstand both fuel price fluctuations and looming natural disasters is extremely important for a country like the Dominican Republic,” said Alexander Ochs, Director of Worldwatch’s Climate and Energy Program. “Installing a renewable energy system in a country that in some years spends ten percent or more of its GDP on the burning of foreign fossil fuels while having very strong domestic renewable resources is vital for its sustained—-and sustainable—-development.”
The Premier Renewable Energy Finance & Investment Event for Latin America & the Caribbean
Renewable Energy Finance Forum – LAC (REFF-LAC), April 24-25, Marriott Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL
Opening Keynote Speaker
Wednesday, April 25, 9:15 AM
Alexander Ochs
Director of Climate and Energy
Worldwatch Institute
Sustainable Energy Roadmaps: Guiding the Shift to Domestic Power in Central America and the Caribbean
Worldwide, renewable energy is growing exponentially. Technologies have matured and are widely available, affordable, and reliable. Nevertheless, Central American and the Caribbean countries are far from utilizing their abundant domestic renewable energy potentials while continuing to pay an enormous price for the import of fossil fuels. Sustainable Energy Roadmaps help identify energy development scenarios that are in a country’s best economic, social, and environmental interest.
In 2005, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez initiated the Petrocaribe Energy Cooperation Agreement, an arrangement that allowed 12 Caribbean nations, including the Dominican Republic, to purchase oil at a subsidized cost. Nevertheless fuel prices in the D.R. have jumped 50 percent in the last two years. Gasoline and diesel currently cost around $4.60 and $4.16 per gallon, respectively. Dominican taxi and bus drivers have recently begun taking out their frustration over higher fuel costs on Venezuela, protesting outside the Venezuelan Embassy and demanding more information on the details of the Petrocaribe program. In response, Alfredo Murga, Venezuela’s ambassador to the D.R., pointed out that Dominican authorities set their own fuel prices based on international crude oil markets. In other words, even Petrocaribe does not protect Dominicans from the vagaries of oil prices. These developments only reinforce Worldwatch’s position: such complete dependence on oil for electricity in addition to vehicle fuel is untenable for the Dominican Republic.
[Read the full Re|Volt blog here]