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Conference: Seattle
Summit on
Protecting the World's Climate:
Accelerating Investment in Clean Energy
TITLE: Seattle Summit on Protecting the World's Climate:
Accelerating Investment in Clean Energy
DATE: April 3-5, 2000
SITE: Cavanaughs on Fifth Avenue, Seattle, Washington
CO-SPONSORS: US Environmental Protection Agency, Bullitt
Foundation, Bonneville Power Administration, Communities Foundation
of Texas, CH2M Hill, City of Seattle, Oregon Climate Trust,
Oregon Office of Energy, Spokane Intercollegiate Research
and Technology Institute, Washington Department of Community,
Trade and Economic Development
The Climate Institute hosted an energy summit with
a host of co-sponsors in Seattle, Washington as a kick-off
event to the global Earth Day 2000 celebrations. More than
200 people from businesses, governments, non-profit groups,
and the media convened to chart directions to accelerate the
emerging clean energy revolution. Also invited were many visionary
leaders in the information and telecommunications revolutions
of the last two decades
Driven by high value in the new Internet economy for uninterruptible,
distributed power supply and by global forces such as climate
change, urban air pollution, and growing global demand for
electricity it seems inevitable that revolutionary technological
change is coming to the energy industry. Innovators and investors
at the forefront of these clean energy systems are likely
to reap potentially huge rewards.
Accelerating the growth of clean energy applications will
not only create new wealth and economic benefits such as jobs,
but help bring the cost of power from such technologies below
that supplied by fossil fuels, delivering enormous benefits
for the world's environment.
The meeting was to identify technology trends and investment
opportunities in clean energy, to examine parallels and synergies
between traditional high-tech industries and clean energy,
and to chart collaborative business/environmental strategies
to help speed the progress of a global energy transformation.
The conference objectives were:
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Draw lessons from the information and telecommunications
revolutions for energy industry transformation.
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Chart the potential directions of the emerging clean
energy revolution and illuminate key areas where information
and other traditional 'high-tech' industries can and are
speeding growth of clean energy technology through the
use of, for example, microprocessors and electronic controls.
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Identify short- and medium-term investment opportunities
in clean energy.
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Foster collaborative strategies uniting business, government
and environmental groups.
An action plan was developed a result
of the discussion at the Seattle Summit on Protecting the
World's Climate. The plan identifies public and private sector
actions that position the US Pacific Northwest and British
Columbia ("the region") in a leadership role in
a global energy transformation. The plan was crafted with
the assistance of participants with expertise in energy, trade,
finance, information, communications, and public policy sectors.
Successful implementation of these actions will reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions that threaten our environmental and
social systems.
Economic Development
PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE INITIATIVES TO GROW
THE CLEAN ENERGY INDUSTRY
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Provide incentives for firms to develop environmentally
friendly technologies.
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Develop a clean energy venture capital fund.
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Support formation of a Clean Energy Industry Association
in the region that brings together energy efficiency,
solar, wind, and fuel cell companies to leverage members'
education and marketing capabilities.
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Work with industry and associations to identify, develop,
and promote international trade opportunities and partnerships
that enable sustainable development and reduce reliance
on fossil fuels.
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Make the region the leader in providing renewable energy
technologies to the developing countries.
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Bring together the region's top research and technology
commercialization institutions for a regional research
and development initiative to foster new clean energy
enterprises.
Energy Efficiency
MEET HALF OF THE REGION'S NEW DEMAND FOR HEAT, LIGHT, AND
POWER THROUGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY
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Reduce energy use in homes and businesses by adopting
high performance building standards, performance contracting,
and building commissioning.
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Establish a system benefit charge for all electricity
and natural gas consumers to support energy efficiency
measures.
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Provide incentives and financing to encourage investment
in energy efficient technologies through actions such
as property tax incentives, income tax credits, and mortgage
rate discounts.
Renewable Resources
BUILD A BASE OF NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES SUFFICIENT
TO SUPPORT A SELF-SUSTAINING MARKET
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Build 1,000 megawatts of new renewable resources in the
region by 2010, including replacing with renewable resources
any hydropower lost due to elimination of dams.
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Establish a minimum supply standard and system benefit
charge for new renewable resource generation.
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Streamline siting and grid interconnection standards
for renewable resources.
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Adopt supportive policies and pricing for transmission
and distributed renewable energy technologies.
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Create market demand by assuring that all electricity
customers can easily buy green power and by incorporating
green energy purchases into green building programs.
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Reward private efforts and investments for renewable
resources through property tax and sales tax relief and
through income tax credits on investments.
Transportation
REDUCE OIL CONSUMED IN TRANSPORTATION
Environmental Consequences
INCORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES INTO ENERGY
DECISIONS
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Price energy to reflect all environmental and health
costs.
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Require disclosure to consumers of sources of electricity
and the environmental impacts of the different sources
and adopt consumer protection guidelines.
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Inform the public of the health costs of using fossil
fuels and the benefits of avoiding fossil fuel use.
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Eliminate state and Federal subsidies for fossil fuels.
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Apply current best-practice air quality standards to
all generating plants.
Greenhouse Gases
REDUCE OR OFFSET GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION IN CONJUNCTION
WITH REDUCING OTHER POLLUTANTS
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Require fossil-fueled generating plants and other major
sources of carbon dioxide emissions to offset a significant
portion of their carbon dioxide emissions.
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Consider full fuel-cycle emissions when choosing the
lowest greenhouse gas-emitting technologies and policies.
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Adopt city and county greenhouse gas reduction strategies
by 2002 and begin implementing them by 2003.
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Establish a regional carbon trading system.
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By 2020, replace all fossil-fueled generation in the
region with carbon-neutral sources.
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Employ all methods for carbon avoidance, reduction and
sequestration.
Education
TEACH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CLEAN ENERGY PRACTICES
AND PRINCIPLES IN ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION, FORMAL AND COMMUNITY-BASED
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Showcase environmental technologies on campuses.
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Teach individuals how to reduce by 10 percent the emissions
of greenhouse gases caused by their personal actions.
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Provide real-time access to environmental quality indicators.
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Conduct comprehensive public service education campaigns
on global warming, sustainable development, and clean
energy practices and principles.
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