Asia Clean Energy Forum...Really Clean???

Attended the just concluded Asia clean energy forum sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, USAID and APEC. Previously, "clean energy" used renewable energy and energy efficiency considering that fossil fuels are the main reason why we have global warming. This year, a lot of the sessions were about "cleaner coal". It's disturbing that while we realize that climate change is an urgent issue, we try to solve it with "business as usual" measures. Whenever my daughter, Eireanne, has a high fever, my wife and stop what we're doing and do all known interventions to get the temperature down. We should have the same attitude about the planet. We should be slowing down our consumption of fossil fuels by being energy efficient followed by the use of renewable energy. As examples, this means: 1.) replacing all our incandescent lightbulbs with compact flourescent lamps, 2.) putting our a/c thermostat at 23C (instead of 18C) and choosing geothermal, wind, solar, hydro or biomass power. The focus on coal appears to undermine the growth of renewable energy and energy efficiency. It also didn't help that most lights in ADB's halls were incandescents or halogens. Where's the consistency?

The USAID on the other hand, outlined its focus areas for climate change mitigation: 1.) Energy Efficiency, 2.) Cleaner Coal and 3.) Knowledge Management. Coal Again??? I guess, the choice is between gold bars and the entire planet. What's your choice?