"Europe has made a major commitment to renewable energy and is leading the United States in deploying it," said Allan Hoffman, a renewable energy expert and senior advisor to Winrock International's Clean Energy Group.
Of all the potential sources of renewable energy, wind is the most widely used. It is currently the world's fastest growing energy source, with the current worldwide capacity at around 30,000 megawatts. In less than five years, wind power capacity is expected to rise to around 60,000 megawatts, according to speakers at the AAAS meeting.
Citing a recent survey of renewable energy initiatives worldwide, L. Hunter Lovins of The Global Academy rejected the contention of U.S. President George Bush that U.S. adherence to the Kyoto protocol would place the United States at a competitive disadvantage.
"It turns out that the U.S. will be at a competitive disadvantage by not signing" she said.
As consumers begin to notice the benefits that renewable energy sources bring to the environment and their quality of life, Lovins said, companies in nations that have invested in the new sources of energy will gain a marketing edge.
Lovins added that the investment community has also begun seeing an increase in "socially responsible investing," investments in companies that agree to practice environmentally and socially responsible policies.
As a result, such investment options have received the attention of the big institutional investors--pension funds with assets equal to 46% of U.S. GDP. One of these, The California Public Employees' Retirement System, (CalPers), with $130 billion in assets, has announced that it has begun screening investments. From such decisions, Lovins expects to see a ripple effect that will eventually lead to changes in U.S. energy policy.
"As Americans we are in a time of unprecedented opportunity and unprecedented peril," Lovins said. "We have more choices than ever in terms of efficient energy and renewables...At the moment, however, our administration's policies are going in the wrong direction."
For more information on the AAAS, see the web site, www.aaas.org. Additional news from the AAAS Annual Meeting may be found online at www.eurekalert.org.
MEDIA NOTE: Alan Hoffman, L. Hunter Lovins and other researchers will participate in a symposia session titled, "Promoting Clean Energy: Lessons from Abroad," at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time, Sunday, 16 February, in Room A-110 on the Main Level of the Colorado Convention Center. Press registration is located in Room C-101 of the Colorado Convention Center.
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The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and serves some 265 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of one million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.