Getting into the conference centre was hugely difficult. A ring of Danish police kept anyone without a reason to be in the centre OUT...and since the centre is closed today for security sweeps....preparing for 100+ world leaders. Bomb sniffing dogs, barriers and barbed wire and I am trying to get in for CTV and Question Period! I got in.
Waiting to hear US Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu and talking with a Scottish government rep, while a major Danish band entertained (Outlandish- that's the name of the band). The Scottish rep told me their target is 42% below 1990 by 2020. Pretty amazing.
Stephen Chu is hugely impressive -- Nobel Prize winner in Physics and Obama's Secretary of Energy. He began by quoting President Obama -- "the days of the US dragging its feet are over."
Made me wonder if this is the first time in history two Nobel Prize winners have been in a US cabinet.
Chu reviewed the major programmes in the US to maximize energy efficiency - appliances, homes and buildings (to save up to 75% of energy used in buildings). Then he outlined an aggressive US programme in renewable energy.
Crystalline silicon and thin film technology for solar power, he believes, are near a huge price drop. As little as one dollar/watt. He sees it taking off soon without government subsidies.
His biofuel discussion focused on cellulosic ethanol. Sadly, Chu is keen on nuclear and sees the only obstacle being the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation. He also talked about carbon capture and storage, something he admitted might never be commercially viable. In reviewing countries doing work in this area, he made no reference to Canada. He also discussed the investments in new technologies, such as giant new liquid batteries. As a prototype in research, such a battery worked at the scale of a swimming pool. Storage of energy from renewables, from wind and solar, is very important.
He was keenest on the high risk-high value research they are doing in the US such as his battery description.
He was followed by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC. Dr. Pachauri confirmed what I have seen as best science: that we need to ensure GHGs stop rising and start falling by 2015, or it will be too late. He called for large scale grassroots mobilization and citizen movements to push governments.
Neither speaker focused on what must happen here. The best banner of the day was Greenpeace's huge message opposite the Bella Centre. "Politicians talk. Leaders Act."