Thursday, February 22, 2007

Happy Anniversary Kyoto

Hello My Friends, Sorry a bit late with this one:


Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs
Friday 16 February 2007 16:26

Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (National)

Kyoto anniversary: Miliband welcomes globe agreement

David Miliband has today, on the second anniversary of the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol, welcomed the agreement reached by global legislators at a key climate change conference in Washington.

Parliamentarians from developed and developing countries agreed to an ambitious statement on the need for international agreement on climate change - and for that agreement to be in place by 2009 at the latest.

UK Environment Secretary Mr Miliband said:

"This is a significant statement from politicians not just in countries like the UK and Germany, but from the US and rapidly developing economies such as China and India. GLOBE's statement delivers a strong message to the meeting of G8 Heads of State in June and I hope it will help unblock the political logjam.

"We need negotiations to begin in earnest at the Bali Climate Change Conference in December this year and for international agreement to be reached by 2009 at the latest. 2007 needs to be the year when the politics starts to catch with the science and economics of climate change - with faster action in all of our countries, and renewed momentum in the drive for agreed action between our countries."

Also today Mr Miliband announced that the UK will in June host a meeting of key experts and businesspeople which will investigate how a low-carbon society can be achieved. The workshop forms part of a key Japan UK collaboration project on low carbon societies.

Announcing the workshop, Mr Miliband said:

"Low-carbon societies, in which energy efficient homes and green transport are likely to become the norm, will be a key feature of a climate friendly future and this workshop will provide valuable input into how this can be achieved."

Japanese Environment Minister Mr Masatoshi Wakabayashi said:

"For the sake of future generations, we need to start moving now towards low carbon societies. The second workshop has a very ambitious agenda. I hope a wide range of participants will provide valuable knowledge and insight about how to achieve low carbon societies."

Jim Skea, Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre and co-Chair of the workshop series said:

"The first Japan-UK Low Carbon workshop made tremendous strides in establishing that the vision of a low carbon society was achievable, and that it could be reconciled with the development needs of a range of countries.

"Since then strong and active collaboration between UK, Japanese and other researchers has been established. Building on their efforts, the second workshop in London will begin the important task of identifying how the low carbon vision can be achieved and what actions will be needed".

Arup, the global design and businesses consultancy, who are currently designing the world's first sustainable city in Dongtan in China, will present its illustrations of what a low carbon society in 2050 could look like at the June meeting. The key design aspects of its work in Dongtan include:

* The bulk of energy needs supplied from renewable sources such as wind turbines, bio-fuels and the recycling of organic material.

* Waste from homes and businesses will be recycled and organic waste will be composted or used to generate energy through biomass.

* Energy use will be cut by up to 70% through the use of traditional and innovative building technologies. Green roofs on buildings could improve insulation as well as water filtration.

* And solar powered water taxis or hydrogen fuel-cell buses could be developed as means of travelling around these new communities.
Notes to editors

1. The UK workshop will be help on the 13-15 June 2007. The workshop will develop the concept of a low carbon society and look at the practicalities of how they can be achieved.

2. The UK/Japan joint research project on a low carbon society was announced on 16 February 2006. The results of the work will feed into the Gleneagles Dialogue. Further details can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2006/060216a.htm

3. The first workshop on 'Developing Visions for a Low-Carbon Society through Sustainable Development' was held from June 2006 in Tokyo. The report of the first workshop, which included a definition of a Low-Carbon Society (LCS), was presented to the G8 Dialogue meeting in Mexico in October 2006.

Looks like Australia is Making Good Choices - banning regular light bulbs in favour of the CFLs is a smart move even if the Australians have sufficient fossil fuel resources to take their country through the next 300-500 years! Crikey Sheila stick another CFL in the lampshade!

From Your Friend The Energy Angel

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