Global network of energy research centres urged by UN Committee.

The creation of a global network of research centres to speed the development and use of energy derived from the sun, water, wind and other "alternative" sources of energy has been urged by the UN Committee on the Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy at its fourth session (28 March-8 April, New York). The energy research network was one proposal which emerged from a high-level expert colloquium held in Castelgandolfo, Italy, in October 1987, the recommendations of which were supported by the Committee.

Its experts suggested activities to promote efficient energy use, identify "success stories" and innovations and promote joint ventures in developing countries. The colloquium reported that difficulties in applying new sources of energy had been underestimated, with economic and policy changes since the oil crises of the 1970s working against thcir diffusion.

The Committee also asked that an expert group make recommendations on information systems on new and renewable sources of energy.

Themes for the Energy

Committee's fifth session in 1990

will be: direct solar-to-electrical energy conversion; use of agricultural residues and urban waste for energy production; and the role of new and renewable energy sources in integrated rural development.

Resources finite

The 159-member body was created by the General Assembly in 1982 in the wake of a global oil crisis which had generated strong interest in accelerated development of alternative sources of energy.

This year it debated as before the focus of its work given falling oil prices and growing international concern over environmental damage from burning fossil fuels and clearing forest areas for firewood.

Lower oil prices have "led some to forget that those resources are finite", warned Mexico's representative Edmundo de Alba Alcaraz. "There is a sense of complacency with regard to the development of new sources of energy", agreed Maheshwar Dayal of India. Energy expenses represented a massive financial burden on Africa, undermining balance of payments and structural adjustment measures, said Mauritania's delegate Mohamed Mahmoud Ouid Cheikh El Ghaouthe.

Many delegations said that oil prices should not dictate whether other energy options are developed or not. Millions of human beings were suffering from a deficit of fuelwood. Desertification was threatening vast areas of the world. These were powerful reasons to find alternatives, they felt.

To avoid a catastrophe

Another compelling reason is the need to avoid a global environmental catastrophe: carbon dioxide produced by increased burning of fossil fuels is provoking

"global warming" which will have, a negative impact in agriculture and other areas in future decades, warned Niels I. Meyer of Denmark.

Many States felt that there was a lack of political will to apply the Programme of Action for development and use of new and renewable sources of energy, adopted at a world conference held in 1981 in Nairobi under UN auspices. The "Group of 77" developing nations worried about what it called the slow progress in implementing the Programme.

The Nairobi Programme calls fo "an orderly and peaceful energy transition from the present international economy, based primarily on hydrocarbons, to one based increasingly on new and renewable energy sources, in a manner which . . . is socially equitable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable". Stressing the needs of people in rural areas, it calls for large-scale forestation, improved use of draught animal power and expanded use of such energy sources as hydropower, geothermal resources, wind and solar energy.