Pleased to see this article this morning. This may have been diaried already but I have no doubt it was lost in the Lieberman/Obama Sux diaries.
AFP article about Chu
I remain a fan of Chu, and am pleased to see him engaged at up to the task in Copenhagen. Yesterday he unveiled a 350m plan to assist underdeveloped countries in advancing renewable energy sources. Also announced was a ministerial level meeting to be held next year in Washington for Obama's Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF)(consisting of the largest polluters: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
An interesting idea from the proposal:
Among the initiatives is a program to provide solar energy and LED lanterns to millions in the developing world who lack access to electricity, providing a low-cost alternative to expensive and polluting kerosene lamps.
"This program will yield immediate economic and public health benefits," a White House statement said, referring to the ambitious project dubbed Climate REDI or the new Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative.
It will be interesting to see how the logistics of this plan work out. Seems like a no-brainer, no?
More from the article:
The announcement came as Africa led a boycott of developing countries on Monday walking out of the working groups in Copenhagen with less then five days of negotiations left in the two-week conference.
They only returned after securing guarantees that the summit would not sideline talks about the future of the Kyoto Protocol.
A top Western negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a round-table session of around 50 environment ministers Sunday had also been soured by "growing tensions between the Americans and Chinese."
"At the back of everyone's mind is the fear of a repeat of the awful scenario in The Hague," she told AFP, referring to a climate conference in 2000 that broke up angrily without agreement.
Yes, a repeat of the Hague would be bad. Overall, I am pleased that we have Chu for Energy Secretary, after so many years of the Administration not giving a shit about global warming. Here's hoping that his D.C. meeting next year is productive.