[The failure of the US congress to pass a cap and trade system may be a blessing in disguise. There is a growing recognition amongst policy makers and environmentalists that we need alternate approaches in addition to traditional cap and trade programs to address the looming catastrophe of global warming. The challenge with cap and trade programs is that they are predicated upon making carbon-based energy more expensive in order to incentivize the deployment of clean energy alternatives. But forced to choose between enforcing emissions caps or keeping energy prices low and economic growth high, policymakers find ways to circumvent emissions caps and minimize economic impacts upon consumers and businesses. The result is that cap and trade systems around the world have only had marginal impact on reducing GHG emissions compared to the business as usual case. Rather than wasting billions of dollars on dubious national cap and trade systems policy makers are now focusing on stimulating innovation and diffusion of non-polluting energy technology.
A proposal called “Post Partisan Power” by the Brookings Institution, the Breakthrough Institute and the American Enterprise Institute recommend the establishment $5 billion program of regional, focused energy innovation institutes involving universities, government researchers and private industry and investors. The proponents of the initiative suggest that money would come from a portion of oil and gas leases, a small fee on imported oil and small surcharge on electricity sales and/or a very small carbon price. But given the political realities of Washington and Ottawa I suspect the funding for such an initiative will have to come from provincial and state cap and trade programs such as WCI, RGGI, etc . Unfortunately, at the moment these regional cap and trade programs are only focusing on the trading of offsets and not using any of the funds to underwrite research.
However, a study by the Canadian Conference Board in Canada on the various GHG mitigation programs in Canada demonstrated that funding green research out of carbon offsets or carbon taxes had the biggest bang for the buck in terms of reducing GHG emissions and creating jobs as well as new businesses. The OECD also recently made a recommendation along these lines as well.
Although ICT currently represents only 2-3% of global GHG emissions and 7-9% of electrical energy consumption its growth rate is dramatic at 6% per year. If this growth rate continues by 2030 ICT could consume, by various estimates anywhere from 20-40% of global electrical consumption and corresponding GHG emissions.
According to data from the Australian Computer Society the education/research sector is by far the largest component of this ICT energy consumption and GHG emissions.
In my opinion it is therefore critical that education and research community, and by extension the research and education networks (who are likely to provide the most effective solutions) should be eligible for some of this research funding. The higher education sector, in particular, should be at the forefront of looking for new solutions to address climate change.
Additional information can be found at:
Real-World Steps on Energy and CO2
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/real-world-steps-on-energy-and-co2/
California can lead nation on carbon cutbacks
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/31/3144391/state-can-lead-nation-on-carbon.html#ixzz14QMkKH1r
Conference Board of Canada report on benefits of using carbon offsets to fund research
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2010/05/must-read-why-network-and-computing-r.html
OECD recommendations on using offsets to fund Green IT research
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2010/04/oecd-recommends-that-basic-research-in.html
How research and educational institutions can provide national leadership in reducing CO2
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/surf-utrecht-nov-10
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email: Bill.St.Arnaud@gmail.com
twitter: BillStArnaud
blog: http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com/
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This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd