International Solar Technology Symposium
Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr.
Berlin, October 24, 2007
As prepared for delivery.
Thank you for the invitation to join you this evening. This symposium is a good example of the ongoing cooperation between government, the private sector and the research community on energy issues. I am sure that everybody here in this room can cite many examples of how well-designed models of collaboration have achieved practical results. Obviously, no single country can tackle the challenges of climate change and energy security all by itself. Without significant measures of cooperation, Germany, Israel, and the United States would not be the leaders in environmental technology that they are today. All three of our countries have achieved results that are worth emulating – but much remains to be done.
Climate change is a complex, long-term challenge. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. During this past year, we have seen climate change and energy security move to the top of the agendas of the world’s heads of state. Last month, both the UN climate summit in New York and the meeting of the major economies that President Bush convened in Washington provided powerful momentum for tackling global energy issues. Both these meetings set the stage for the UN Bali conference in December.
I also would like to give credit to Chancellor Merkel for her role in sparking this new momentum. She made energy security and climate change a priority of Germany’s twin EU and G8 presidencies. This is one of the many, shared interests of Chancellor Merkel and President Bush. They have met several times and they speak frequently. The topic of how to ensure an economically viable, environmentally friendly energy supply comes up often when they meet. I know how productive and constructive their discussions are because I have had the honor and the privilege of sitting in on all of their meetings – both here in Germany and in Washington.
But commitment to energy security and climate change – and now I speak specifically for the United States – is not something new on our agenda. The President has long called for action by all levels of government and by all sectors of the economy to combat climate change and to develop new energy technologies that will increase energy security for everyone. In 2002, President Bush set a national goal to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy by 18 percent within 10 years. For a country like the U.S., with a robust economy and a large and growing population, an intensity goal – which compares rates of greenhouse gas emissions to units of economic output – makes sense because it recognizes both economically valuable activity and energy savings.
We are on track to meet, and indeed exceed, the President’s goal. In addition, preliminary data for 2006 suggests an absolute reduction in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions of 1.3 percent for that year despite economic growth of 2.9 percent. To achieve these ambitious goals, the U.S. has implemented a broad portfolio of policies and programs that include mandates, standards, incentives, and voluntary partnerships. They are all directed at speeding up the market penetration of more efficient energy technologies and alternative fuels, as well as increasing conservation. As a result, the United States has been able to slow the pace of greenhouse gas emissions in the near term. More important though is the strong scientific foundation that has been laid for long-term implementation of clean energy technologies.
The U.S. spends more on climate change technology research and development than at any other country in the world. We have invested nearly $29 billion since 2001 in research in solar and wind power, improvements in batteries for hybrid vehicles, the development of hydrogen fuel cells and a host of other climate-related science and technology programs. We have moved edge technologies off the drawing board to the marketplace.
For example, in the solar energy sector, as part of the Solar America Initiative, the Department of Energy is working with America’s top scientists and engineers in targeted materials science and process engineering research to accelerate development processes. The goal is to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015.
These past few weeks, Washington has had a sneak preview of some of these pre-prototype and pre-commercial technologies. As part of the Department of Energy’s third annual Solar Decathlon, university-led teams from across the United States, as well as Germany, Canada, and Spain, transformed the National Mall in Washington DC into a solar village as part of a competition to design, build, and operate efficient and attractive solar-powered homes. Looking at the track record of the two previous Solar Decathlons, many of the technologies these research teams showcased will soon be brought to market. Why? Because the smartest investors in the world are investing in energy innovation.
In a recent column in the New York Times, journalist Tom Friedman profiled the Israeli energy sector. He commended Israel for creating an ecosystem of young innovators and venture capitalists. “These are oil wells,” Friedman wrote, “that won't run dry.” That’s the prototype for how we should be working together.
My background is in business. I believe in the power of the private sector. I know if you come up with a good idea, the markets will fund it and people will buy it. The industrialized economies of the world are innovation economies. Alternative energy is no longer just an interesting idea. It is a multinational, multi-billion dollar industry built entirely on the promise of real-world innovation. Over the course of my career in business and in the past two years as Ambassador, I have seen many examples of the benefits of transatlantic innovation. Let me cite one recent experience before I conclude my remarks.
This summer, for example, I attended the opening of U.S. owned factory for the production of state-of-the-art solar cells near Frankfurt on the Oder, an east German city on the Polish border. The American company – First Solar is its name – developed the technology in collaboration with U.S. Department of Energy researchers. The plant was established with the support of the German federal government, state and local governments. The result: joint investments in solar energy plants are bringing jobs and re-vitalizing the economy in eastern Germany. I am convinced that the emerging global energy economy will offer many such success stories. The world has built its economy on an engine driven by fossil fuels. It is going to take the best efforts of everyone – the government, the research community, the private sector, and ultimately consumers – to move towards a more sustainable solution.
By working together, we should hope, indeed we should expect, that ten years from today, the world will look back on this year as the time when the world fundamentally changed how we deal with our energy needs. There are no magic answers, no single, correct approach to subsidies, research investment, tariffs, carbon credits or technology transfers. In the United States we want to involve all 300 million people with their hearts and minds working for solutions. Every country has its own market dynamics, and its own real challenges. But the good news is that this diversity of approaches makes success more likely.
Thank you. I wish you all a successful and interesting conference.
