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OUR PLANET GENERATiNG POwER, jObs ANd dEvELOPmENT1
 
OUR PLANET
The agazne o the Unte Naton Enronent Prograe -
deceer 2008
RENEWABLEENERGY 
Generating power, jobs and development
 
2OUR PLANET GENERATiNG POwER, jObs ANd dEvELOPmENT
Daniel M. Kammen,
the Class o 1935Distinguished Proessor o Energy in theEnergy and Resources Group, the GoldmanSchool o Public Policy, and the Departmento Nuclear Engineering at the University o Caliornia, Berkeley...... calls on the incoming U.S. presidentto launch a clean energy century.
innovation agenda- page 26
Martin Roscheisen,
CEO o Nanosolar, Inc... ... describes a green business boom in SiliconValley and outlines what government must doto encourage and support such innovation.
green valley - page 24
Prof Ed Gallagher,
Chairmano the UK Renewable FuelsAgency...... describes how early enthusiasm or biouelswaned, and charts a way orward.
making biouels sustainable- page 18
Michael Liebreich,
CEO o NewEnergy Finance...... describes and explains the extraordinarysurge in investment in clean energy worldwide.
cleaning up - page 14
Matthias Machnig,
Deputy EnvironmentMinister o Germany...
generating growth - page 4
... explains how his country'spolicies have lend to a dynamicexpansion o electricity generationrom renewable energy,strengthening its climate strategy.
Lalita Ramdas,
Board Chair ,Greenpeace International ...
enough is enough - page 22
... calls or a carbon-ree,nuclear-ree revolution.
Yingling Liu,
China Program Manager at theWorldwatch Institute...
China's new path - page 10
... describes the extraordinarilyrapid growth o renewable energyin China and shows how it is anintensiying orce behind thecountry's economic growth.
Shyam Saran,
a ormer ForeignSecretary o India, who is nowthe Prime Minister’s SpecialEnvoy or Climate Change...... describes his country's commitment toexploiting solar energy's potential and calls ora global programme to realise it worldwide.
mission possible - page 8
Senator
Liz Thompson,
a ormer Minister o Energy and Environment o Barbados...
regaining paradise - page 16
... describes the urgent need orrenewable energy in Small IslandDeveloping States and calls on theinternational community to helpprovide it.
OURPLANET
alopage 3 reectonpage 7 prouctpage 12 peoplepage 13 aar an eentpage 20 erat an nuerpage 21 ookpage 29 
Our 
 
Planet 
, the agazne o theUnte Naton Enronent Prograe (UNEP)PO box 30552Naro, KenyaTel: (254 20)7621 234Fax: (254 20)7623 927e-al: uneppu@unep.orgTo e current an pat ue o thpulcaton onlne, pleae t.unep.org/ourplanetissN 101 - 7394
Decto o Publcaton:
satner bnra
Edto:
Georey Lean
Coodnatos:
Nao Poulton & da spon
Assstant Coodnato:
Anne-France whte
Specal Contbuto:
Nck Nuttall
Dstbuton Manage:
manyahlehal Keee
Desgn:
Ana daran
Poduced by:
UNEP don o Councaton an Pulc inoraton
Pnted by:
Phoenx degn A
Dstbuted by:
smi bookThe content o th agazne o not necearlyreect the e or polce o UNEP or theetor, nor are they an ocal recor. Theegnaton eploye an the preentatono not ply the expreon o any opnonhatoeer on the part o UNEP concernng thelegal tatu o any country, terrtory or cty or tauthorty or concernng the eltaton o tronter or ounare.* All ollar ($) aount reer to Us ollar.
Australian actor
Cate Blanchett
...
sunshine and light showers - page 30
... is pioneering"greenovation" athome and work.
 
OUR PLANET GENERATiNG POwER, jObs ANd dEvELOPmENT3
reflections
 
by Achim Steiner,U.N. Under-Secretary-General andExecutive Director, UNEP
UNEP prooteenronentally oun practcegloally an n t on actte.Th agazne  prnte on 100% recyclepaper, ung egetale -ae nk an othereco-renly practce. Our truton polcya to reuce UNEP’ caron ootprnt.
A chill wind has blown through international stock markets, and renewableenergy companies have not been immune. A global index o solar stocks, theClaymore/MAC index, ell by over 50 per cent between April — when it startedtrading — and early November, while the New Energy Global InnovationIndex ell by a huge 45 per cent in October alone.Some have drawn parallels with the dot.com bubble when Internet start-upcompanies, based on marketing rather than real markets, came and wentlike mayies. But this ignores hard and ast undamentals that should makerenewable energy companies ar more robust and lasting. The main driving orce, climate change — unlike the stock markets —has steadily grown, not waxed and waned. Scientists studying ice coresin Antarctica estimate that greenhouse gases are now at their highestconcentration or 800,000 years.Serious long-term government commitments are emerging, partly as a resulto the Kyoto Protocol and in anticipation o deeper and more comprehensivedeal in Copenhagen in 2009. The European Union wants to generate 20per cent o its energy rom renewable sources by 2020, up rom just over6 per cent in 2005. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced abig expansion o wind power — 7,000 turbines on- and o-shore. The U.S.government recently passed the Production Tax Credit and Investment TaxCredit, extending support or wind power by a year and or geothermal andsolar power by two and eight respectively. And in the run-up to the elections,President-elect Obama pledged to invest $150 billion in clean energy overthe next 10 years, generating ve million jobs.Meanwhile Clean Development Mechanism projects, now numbering overthree thousand, appear unaected by the nancial crisis: new resources arebeing ound and exploited daily, it seems. Countries like Mali and Madagascar,once outside the mechanism, are now accessing it, partly as a result o UN-linked capacity building. And renewables remain the astest, most cost-eective and most environmentally riendly solution or many o the twobillion people still without access to modern energy.A recent survey in Ghana — part o UNEP and the Global EnvironmentFacility’s Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment — has ound 100square kilometres o good windy land able to generate 500 megawatts o electricity or 10 per cent o the country’s needs. And a consortium includinga Dutch multinational, the German Wind Energy Institute and local investorsare planning a 300 megawatts wind arm in Turkana, northern Kenya.Renewable energy companies are no longer small start-ups. Suntech Power,headquartered in Wuxi, China — the world’s biggest solar manuacturer —has a market capitalization o $3.5 billion; First Solar in the United States hasone o $11.3 billion. The economic models o the 20th century are now hitting the limits o whatis possible — both in terms o our ecological ootprint and in deliveringbetter livelihoods or the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day.Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy. Will theygo into yesterday’s old, extractive, short-term economy or into a new GreenEconomy that will deal with today’s challenges and generate countlesseconomic opportunities or poor and well-o alike? Renewable energygenerates three to ve times more jobs than ossil uel generation and itsecological ootprint is innitely smaller. This edition o 
Our Planet 
marks the climate convention meeting in Poznan,which must be central to the transition to a low carbon, green energyeconomy. Strategies or long-term cooperative action on climate changemust be eshed out alongside the nancial architecture needed to boostinvestments in renewables and other sectors. Directing the multi-billionstimulus packages being lined up by governments, allied to a reshaping andreocusing o global markets, can assist success.However the biggest stimulus package o all — which could set the stage orsustainable growth in the 21st century — must come in Copenhagen nextyear. I the international community can make this a big deal in every sense o the word, we will be a long way to a Global Green New Deal that will meet thegenuine development needs o 6.7 — rising to 9 — billion people.
Coer photo © AdRiAN wiLsON / beateork / Cor. 'Ne Green deal'  the phrae on the lp o orl leaer on theee o the deceer 2008 clate change negotaton n Poznan, Polan. wth econoe n turol aroun the orl, angloal arng frly ntalle at the top o the nternatonal poltcal agena, the eelopent o reneale an cleanenergy opton look lke a clac 'n-n-n' tuaton: curng greenhoue ga eon, areng grong concernoer energy ecurty, an prong ne eployent opportunte or llon. Th ue o 
Our Planet 
explan ho.
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