Egloff, Roger L.

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184 Environmental ConservationOn the second day of the Conference, when stress wasbeing laid upon hydrogen as a carrier and there weremany good papers, a peculiar thing happened: a ladyfrom China spoke favourably of the use of coat (sic); anda gentleman from the Soviet Union thought that theywould continue to use natural gas for about 30 to 40years. When asked why they made these extraordinaryannouncements, they said 'But it is cheaper', and had tobe carefully educated about net cost versus apparentinitial costs!There is little doubt that natural gas will progressivelyreplace petroleum as an energy-source, if only as a tran-sition towards a fully-integrated hydrogen economy. Inthe transition period, to start with, small amounts ofhydrogen could be added to natural gas, both for trans-portation purposes and for other use. The investmentswould be reasonable.This process was described by one of the speakers, DrJ. Selzer, for supply to vehicles. He proposed the name ofHYTHANE for the mixture of HYdrogen and me-THANE.JOHN O'M. BOCKRISDistinguished University ProfessorDepartment of ChemistryTexas A & M UniversityCollege StationTexas 17843-3255, USA,&ROGER L. EGLOFFCentre International COPER1 Rue de VarembeCH-1202 GeneveSwitzerland.GLOBAL WARMING — A CALL FOR INTERNATIONALCOOPERATION, BEING THE SECOND INTERNATIONALCONFERENCE ON THE SCIENCE AND POLICY ISSUESFACING ALL GOVERNMENTS, HELD IN CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, USA, DURING 8-11 APRIL 1991As with so many meetings scheduled in early 1991,this conference suffered from the Persian/Arabian Gulfevents. Attendance declined markedly compared with thepreceding year, although well over one hundred delegates,representing 17 countries, showed up; the number ofattendees from Third World nations, or originally fromsuch nations, was impressive.An attempt was made to reach a wide range ofprofessionals as well as the public at large. Both inter-national cooperation and coordination were urged in thebroader aspects of natural resources management, currenttechnologies, policy options, and legal constraints. Globalclimatic changes were considered, as well as effects of'greenhouse' phenomena, reforestation, and employmentof biomass energy. Educational aspects were touchedupon, stressing the universities' informational role.Global Warming and Other ChangesGlobal warming was accepted as factual by allspeakers, and several effect-mitigating factors werediscussed or proposed: biomass energy, biocrops, biofuels,etc. One session dealt almost exclusively with forests andtheir effect of reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations.Canadian, Indonesian, Mexican, Bulgarian, and Tropical,forests' role assessment analyses were used as examples.A cooperative US-USSR ecosystem study was describedin considerable detail and, though of modest scale, showsvery promising aspects.Climate change indicators and the global climatelinkage received the largest totality of time. Here the coral-reef system and the subarctic biological realm were linkedto current climate oscillations, the use of models was high-lighted, and Man's influence put in focus.Methane and Water ShortageTwo other topics handled at some length were methaneand water shortage. The Gas Research Institutes' environ-mental programme in global change was reviewed, andmethane fluxes in urban and agricultural settings weredescribed. Three papers dealt with desertification andwater supply in the Sahel, particularly Chad; hydrologicsystems were handled on a global scale, and specificallyfor Indonesia.In the cadre of Man's impact upon global changes,alternative energy sources were proposed, ranging fromwood and herbaceous plants to the ocean. Activities ofseveral US agencies received some favourable echoes.Unusual, however, was a proposal for reducing globalwarming while promoting preservation of endangeredspecies: a forest of several species of Eucalyptus couldsupport a large population of marsupials and simul-taneously reduce the 'greenhouse' effect!Further GleaningsGleaning among the environmental topics touchedupon, constructive proposals were made or practicalthoughts expressed. Thus biofuels could alleviate over-production of CO2, and technologies for this are at hand.An eight-nations experiment is under way to use the tree-line as a climate-change indicator. If 84% of carbon^emission due to production and consumption are'ascribable to developed countries, a substantial proportionis nevertheless generated by China.In the context of the over-emission of CO2, alternativesfocus on changing energy policies, controlling 'green-house' gas emissions, and changing patterns of land-useand -adaptation. Where the US is concerned, mass edu-cation, tighter efficiency-standards, more research anddevelopment, and more economic incentives, could be keysteps. An enormous educational task lies on the uni-versities' front door-step, so that a constant global popu-lation might be enabled to live in happy equilibrium withthe Earth System.The Third International Conference on the Science andPolicy Issues Facing All Governments will be held, againin April, in 1992 in Chicago, and efforts will be made toincrease West European, female, and developing coun-tries' input, while diversifying even further the range ofsubjects covered.ROGER H. CHARLIER, Professor Emeritus(Free University of Brussels)2 Avenue du Congo Box 23B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.TENTH EUROPEAN PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGYCONFERENCE, HELD IN THE FIL CONGRESS CENTRE,LISBON, PORTUGAL, DURING 8-12 APRIL 1991https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900021895Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:10:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available atConferences & Meetings 185It is now widely evident that a large proportion of ourenvironmental problems are linked in some way to ourfrantic consumption of energy. Hence, progresses inenvironmentally-friendly renewable energies are ofparamount importance, and it is happy to relate that thisevent was a distinct success. Some 700 participants came toit from 49 different countries — mostly European countriesbut including some more distant overseas countries.There is currently an upsurge in photovoltaic (PV)activity in Europe, where sales of the product increased25% from late in 1989 to the end of 1990. It is alsoencouraging to note the very broad public and a govern-mental support in Europe, where several projects reachedthe megawatt range — for example the Roofs(Germany), Sahel (CEE), and Enel (Italy), enterprizes.For crystalline silicon cells, efficiencies are increasing— from 12% to a range of 13-14% for commercialproducts. Life-expectancy of solar cells and modules isalso increasing — from 20 years to 25 and even 30 years.But prices, unfortunately, are not decreasing according toexpectations. Moreover the stage of large-scale industrialproduction has not yet been reached.Speaking at a press conference during the Conference,Dr Hermann Scheer, President of Eurosolar andRepresentative in the German Bundestag, declared: 'Weare going to base ourselves on politics and take a giantleap forward in order to build large-scale production linesand quickly reduce manufacturing costs.'Also outspoken was Dr Woflgang Palz, Head of theRenewable energies section, CEC, Brussels, who said'There is widespread concern about the environmentaleffects of conventional energy consumption and inparticular global warming. At the heart of the notion ofsustainable development ('Brundtland Report') is theethical imperative that the stock of environmental capitalmust be preserved for future generations. An ever-increasing world population and further economicgrowth... will stimulate energy consumption. This energymust be clean. The further development of renewables isof high priority because "it is better to prevent pollutionthan to cure it".'Furthermore, 'Renewable energy sources are poten-tially capable of providing a significant fraction ofEurope's energy needs in the 21st century'. Suitabletechnologies are available, of which some are alsocompetitive. Large-scale applications will depend onappropriate political decisions.The 11th European Photovoltaic Solar EnergyConference will take place in Montreux, Switzerland,during 12-16 October 1992.ROGER L. EGLOFFOffice of Cooperation for RenewableEnergies (COPER)Centre InternationalBP70CH1211 Geneva, Switzerland.INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON BANKING, THEENVIRONMENT, AND EDUCATION, HELD AT THEOFFICES OF THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO,LONDON, ENGLAND, UK, ON 9 APRIL 1991Building a Network for BankersNetworks are 'all about building bridges', and thiswas the central activity at the Banking, the Environment,and Education, Seminar held at 90 Long Acre, LondonWC2E 9RB, England, UK, on 9 April 1991. The gapsbetween the worlds of environmental activists,educationalists, and bankers, were narrowed, and for awhole day there was an exchange of views andparticipation in an agenda set by four main speakers. Tenbankers, representing nine major banks, were comple-mented by representatives from a 'green' trust, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (3), and the Education Network forEnvironment and Development (3). Speakers from theWorld Bank, the Education Network for Environmentand Development (ENED), the Science Policy ResearchUnit (SPRU), and the London law firm of Wilde Sapte,completed the scene.But, readers may well ask, why bring together such avaried group representing such disparate fields? It istempting to reply that desperate circumstances requiredesperate remedies, but in fact we probably have severaldecades before any global environmental crisis engulfsus, so may well be able to afford a rational though radicalapproach.The reasons for the seminar lie embedded in thereasons for which WWF (UK) funded the setting-up ofENED. The environmental crisis may be some way off,but its nature and major dimensions are now apparent. Itis clearly not sufficient to rest our hopes on educationalprogrammes for schoolchildren, donations to charities,and convenient 'technical fix' solutions to 'incon-veniences' such as pollution and famine. The depth ofour problems means that we will require to change ourlifestyles, restructure our major institutions, and changeour values, so that manufacturing industry and agri-culture have differently-structured markets and new legalconstraints within which to operate. It is a huge job and,as the participating nations at the 1990 Bergen Confe-rence recognized, we will need to develop an educationalprocess within all our major institutions — especially ourplaces of work — in order to achieve it.It should now be crystal clear why bankers are soimportant. Banks play a crucial role in shaping thefuture. Investment decisions that are made now may helpto predict and determine the future. It is essential thatbankers be informed about what the future may bring ifwe continue as we are and do not make changes. We needto support each other in thinking through problems thatare quite unique in the history of Humankind.Contributions to The DebateThe day began with the undersigned setting out themajor arguments for believing in the seriousness of oursituation. He chose one topic, Global Warming, andpresented detailed evidence from a number of autho-ritative sources. The scale and scope of the changes thatwill be required are measured in one of the recom-mendations from IPPC that carbon dioxide emissions becut by 60%. The seriousness of this requirement isgauged by the reasonable demands of developingcountries that they be allowed to increase their output.The role of education in achieving new levels ofintelligence with which to tackle this problem wasstressed.Dr Robert J.A. Goodland followed this presentationwith an account of the World Bank experience. In theearly days it failed almost entirely to take account of theenvironmental impact of its major development schemes,particularly in power generation. Its experience ofpolitical opposition and justified criticism led to ahttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900021895Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:10:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

Tenth European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, held in the FIL Congress Centre, Lisbon, Portugal, during 8-12 April 1991

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