Global Economies pitch in with $350 Million Climate REDI Initiative

At United Nations’ Summit on climate change at Copenhagen, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Steven Chu unveiled Climate REDI - the Climate Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative.

Climate REDI is a $350-million investment by major economies of the world towards increasing efficiencies in home appliances and developing renewable energy sources specifically wind and solar energy in developing world. The initiative will fund the deployment of “affordable home systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity,” according to a program fact sheet.

Reported Scientific American that Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment, India, welcomed the effort and called for his country to be one of the recipients. Such technology transfers with specific funding is what developing world is looking at as part of any Copenhagen agreement.

Writes Scientific American:

The 1970s, refrigerators in the U.S. have swelled from 18 cubic feet to 22 cubic feet. But, at the same time, the energy consumption of such gargantuan coolers has dropped by 75 percent, down to roughly 40 watts, saving countless tons of coal from being burned. And a five-year global program that reached all the refrigerators in the world with similar efficiency improvements might save 1.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide over that span, a significant contribution to combating climate change.

And that's exactly what U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Steven Chu unveiled here Monday at the United Nations' summit on climate change: the Climate Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI)—a $350-million investment by major economies, including $85 million from the U.S., to bring everything from efficient refrigerators to solar lanterns to the developing world.

"The energy savings from refrigerators is greater than all U.S. renewable energy generation—all the wind, solar thermal and solar photovoltaics —just the refrigerators," Chu said in a speech announcing the initiative, noting the refrigerators also cost less. "Energy efficiency is truly a case where you can have your cake and eat it too. [But] it was driven by standards; it didn't happen on its own."

In addition to coordinating global standards for efficient appliances, Climate REDI will also invest in further developing renewable energy sources—such as wind and solar power—in the developing world. The initiative will fund the deployment of "affordable home systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity," according to a program fact sheet.

"We want to help turn the lights on where people live but also in a way that helps solve climate change," Chu said, referring to the at least 1 billion people who lack access to electricity globally.

Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of the environment, welcomed the effort and called for his country to be one of the recipients. But he also noted that "Indian companies have been pioneers in low-cost pharmaceuticals now being widely used in Africa. I see no reason why Indian companies in the next five or six years with the help of American counterparts cannot emerge as world leaders in renewable energy technology.

Photo: U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Steven Chu.