The 2010 World Future Energy Summit (WFES) is less than three months away; and plans are already underway to ensure that this conference will be even more successful than WFES 2009, which drew more than 18,200 visitors from 84 countries.
Hosted by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Future Energy Company, the main themes of the 2010 Summit will be centered on the concept of “eco cities” and the issues surrounding technology transfer in order to advance the concept of sustainable and renewable energy; which will be vital to the success of the environment of the new eco-cities being planned for various parts of the globe.
Some of these include: Treasure Island in the USA, Dong Tang in China, and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi itself. Although Masdar City has been mentioned several times on Green Prophet, the other two have not; and it will be interesting to see how the Americans and Chinese can convert a polluted naval base outside San Francisco, and a piece of swampy wasteland along the Yangtze River into completely sustainable eco-communities.
In the case of Masdar City, the geographical area in which it is being built is much harsher than that of the other two, and could be the most challenging of the three; as it is being built in a country with virtually no natural water supplies and with summertime temperatures soaring to over 49 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit).
Just a few of the confirmed Summit speakers include: Mr. Karlos Papoulias, President of Greece; Mr. Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of Siemens AG Energy Sector; Ms. Helene Pelosse, Interim Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); and Ms. Katrina Landis, CEO of British Petroleum’s Alternative Energy Division.
A number of sustainable energy eco-city projects, including Masdar City, have had construction slow-downs or even outright delays due to the ongoing economic slowdown which has been in effect world-wide since the end of last year. It will be interesting to see whether other projects, which are not considered to be very eco-sustainable, including Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island project, will be discussed, along with the featured projects like Treasure Island and Masdar City.
But in looking at the program schedule for the 2010 WFES summit, there will be plenty of issues to keep the delegates busy as well as enlightened; including climate change, new innovations in alternative and renewable energy, world food and water shortages, and where increased investments to create “green” employment opportunities will come from. We can only hope that the ecological aspects of many sustainable living projects will not be compromised by profit motive considerations, as may be the case in projects like Al Reem Island.
And in the meantime nominations are open for the Zayed Future Energy Prize – with a prize booty of $1.5 million. Click here on Zayed Future Energy for more.
::World Future Energy Summit 2010 website
Photo via Scientific American
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
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