A traditional band complete with cowbells, accordeon, yodelling singer and one very large horn welcomed the delegates, who feasted on a great selection of melted cheese, cured meats and chilled wine. It was a perfect chance to recharge the batteries for those who had exhausted all their energy ‘talking energy’.

The day began with a plenary session featuring speakers from industry and civil society. Amongst the most persuasive personalities on the panel was Morten Albaek, Senior Vice President of Group Marketing and Customer Insight at Vestas Wind Systems, whe argued that ‘everyone in the world is born sensible’ and that we all understand that the ’sensible’ thing to do is to invest in renewable and sustainable energy.

I later asked him why it was that Danish politicians seemed to accept the sustainable energy argument more freely than many of their counterparts in other parts of Europe, and he replied that developing clean energy systems was deeply anchored in Danish politics, and that the voters genuinely considered it to be an important issue in their lives.

Given that the question of how to engage the general public in the energy debate was one of the overriding themes of this first debate session, it seems that the Danes once again probably have a few things to teach the rest of us about being good citizens of planet earth.

The Masdar stand dominates the entrance to the exhibition hall, and although it was great to be able to meet some of the people involved in the project and to see some of the plans that are being put into place, it certainly seems to me that the whole project is taking a great deal of time to get off the ground, and that for the moment there are a lot more fancy videos and nice interactive 3D maps than real-world sites that we journalists could hope to visit and film. Of course it’s a big initiative, and it will take time to complete, but I can’t help thinking that Masdar have done such a good job of publicising their project so far that the reality of what will be achieved may be something of a let down once we finally get to see it finished in the flesh.

In this picture to the right you can see the Swiss President Ms Micheline Calmy-Rey and Solar plane innovator Bertrand Piccard inspecing the Masdar plans, complete with a media scrum and a few dozen dignitaries.

Wandering around the stalls it was a welcome surprise to see so many well advanced solar thermal devices on display. The Swiss-Italian start-up TVP Solar made a show of unveiling their latest module, a one square metre panel that they hope to sell for around 250 euros a unit, with the intended market being industrial sized cooling applications using absorption chillers. I spent a while talking to CEO Piero Abbate, and he’s certainly convinced that the market for solar thermal chilling is about to explode, especially if the price is as low as he hopes to make it.

Nearby the chatty boffins of SRB Energy Research were also promoting their solar thermal devices, using reflective technology rather than self-contained units like TVP, but with the same aim getting an early foothold in a market which for all intents and purposes doesn’t really exist yet, but is expected to boom in the coming decade.

More smartness about the way we do everything would make a huge difference to cutting carbon emissions, and combating climate change. Anyone reading this blog is probably trying to do their bit, being smart, re-using what can be re-used, turning off what can be turned off, and generally being conscious of their energy consumption. But there are limits to how much time we can spend exploring new ways of thinking about what we already do.

Thankfully there are people like Seppo Yrjola to think about smartness on our behalf. I had a chat with Seppo, Principal Innovator at Nokia Siemens Networks, a few days ago to find out about his work, which involves trying to work out smarter ways of using what we already have.

Seppo helps develop network management systems and is looking at how some of the models developed in the mobile phone industry can be applied elsewhere in order to increase efficiency and overall functionality, thereby cutting energy usage and in turn helping us cut our greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the key trends he’s interested in is portability. So, if my mobile phone becomes my payment tool, which these days looks like a strong possibility, how will that development connect with the roll out of smart grids in electricity supply?

The models being explored are pretty smart, and the ideas sound pretty innovative. One example from the retail world: if I’m the manager of a large furniture store I may decide to offer free electric vehicle charging to certain customers who’ve paid for my premium credit card services. Customers could behave in smarter ways too: if I use a charging point at a retail store to fill up the batteries on my electric car, then the system could help me understand whose power am I using, and where it came from, and the cost could be amalgamated into my monthly bill. The power company or retail intermediary could then look at how the cost of that energy and its distribution is spread between customer, charging point supplier or themselves. As a customer I could decide that I would like to pay a little more to have electricity from renewable energy sources in my car, my phone, or my computer, and I could then monitor that usage to maximize or minimize as I wished.

It’s an attractive business model, but one that throws up all kinds of issues. And that’s where telecoms industry specialists like Seppo come in, as his sector has worked hard on portability problems such as identity management, smart tariffs and cross-border payment. Roll those models out into the field of energy and you have all kinds of interesting possibilities – as a consumer I could chose my energy provider  just as I choose my mobile network provider, and so my energy costs could roam with me just as my mobile phone connection roams with me.

If a customer’s energy consumption is monitored as they travel, then just imagine the ’smartness’ that could evolve, especially for business customers and frequent flyers – “plug in here and we’ll give you some bonus points on your home account”, “charge-up there and your energy costs will be at your personally negotiated overnight tariff”, “cut your energy costs at our hotel and we’ll credit your account back home”, that sort of thing.

It all sounds pretty smart, and would greatly help build awareness among consumers as to the real cost of their energy consumption, in so doing making them smarter and more efficient, encouraging them to pay attention to the detail of what they use and where, just as most people already pay attention with the calling, texting and data connecting costs of their mobile phones.

Our guide was Futurol project manager Benoit Trémeau, who began the tour by suggesting we shoot from the top of one of the grain silos where the raw material is unloaded and stored. I have to say it smelt wonderful, like a big box of muesli. Benoit explained how the grain is graded and sorted, with the parts not suitable for food production used to make fuels.

The main focus of our visit was the newly built building that houses Futurol, the site of the French national second generation biofuels project. This pilot plant should be online and functioning now, allowing engineers to process, test and refine different feedstocks for advanced biofuels. At the entrance to the site a series of storage areas will be filled with the supply materials – when we were there we saw piles of poplar and straw – which are then broken down, cooked, brewed and fermented into fuels.

As with the other biofuels plant I blogged about earlier on Comment Visions, the Futurol project is more about the journey than the destination – that’s to say that the reported 100 million dollars spent on the eight-year research project is all about developing and marketing the process of turning lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels, and then hopefully licensing or selling that production technology to companies worldwide, rather than selling the product itself. The ethanol they do produce will be blended in with the first generation fuels and distributed to pumps in France.

Benoit is still sticking to the orignal plan which sets targets of developing a demonstration-scale plant by 2015 and a commercial-scale plant by 2016, which I have to admit I thought seemed rather optimistic, but good luck to them if they can do it.

We finished the day’s filming rather dusty and hot, and so were offered a glass of the ‘traditional local tipple’. Turns out, the local tipple is top quality champagne. Yes, they’ve been brewing and fermenting in this part of France for centuries, and from my experience they’re getting pretty good at it by now .

Source: EBS

The 2010 European Business Summit kicked off in Brussels on Thursday, 30 June and the Comment:Visions team was there to catch all the action.

The first day’s proceedings included the Presidents’ Debate which focused on Europe’s economic crisis and possible plans of action. It was panelled by Herman Van Rompuy, President, European Council; José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission; Jürgen R. Thumann, President, BUSINESSEUROPE; and Thomas Leysen, President, Federation of Enterprises in Belgium / Member, ERT. The debate culminated with a message of hope from President Barroso that the next G20 summit will be a bountiful platform for “concrete results” within economic reform.

The next day, the summit opened with the Energy for Europe: Fueling Growth panel which included Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy; Peter Voser, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell; Tom R. Walters, President, ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing ; and Vagit Alekperov, President, Lukoil. Coal fired power plants could have the capacity to be made CO2 neutral, Voser said. The energy demand that we are facing presently is expected to double by the year 2050, making the need for alternate renewable energy sources even more prevalent. “Gas is emerging as the energy source that allows the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere” Perov said. Natural gas was determined to be the most viable, cost effective and abundant of the renewable sources. Shale gas was also said to be an important component of the energy mix, but the problem was with European public acceptance. Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger reminded the panel that “Solar energy [is] equally as important”.

Source: Comment:Visions

During the summit’s gala dinner, Comment:Visions hosted a table for a few of our online contributors, including: Dr. Jeffrey Seisler, CEO of Clean Fuels Consulting; Jacques de Selliers Chairman of the Association for Electric Vehicles in Europe;  Marco Sorgetti, Director General of CLECAT; Brianna Sapp, Project Manager of PANGEA; Remi Gruet, Climate Change Advisor for EWEA; and

 Greg Arrowsmith, Policy Officer from EUREC Agency.

– Heather Nelson

What lessons should the EU draw from Copenhagen? Can the EU still be a driving force in global climate politics? Should the EU continue to push for a global agreement, or should it consider other options, such as bilateral agreements? Should it even take unilateral action, as advocated by some European stakeholders, and increase its emissions reduction target from 20% to 30% without waiting for the US and China to follow? Is a global deal still possible, and when might it be reached?

These are just some of the questions that Comment:Visions invites you to debate with a panel of senior EU decision-makers and stakeholders.

The climate change conference in Copenhagen ended without a binding global agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

So, if governments cannot agree on measures to mitigate climate change, who then will provide the incentives and initiatives and perhaps more importantly the finances, that are needed? A growing number of leaders are beginning to look to the private sector to provide solutions. With regard to climate change, is it business to the rescue?

As nations gather to seek an agreement on solving climate change, many are working behind the scenes to create the innovations and protocols that will form the foundation of a new, emission-free society. The fossil fuels that are greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions also provide the majority of the energy that we rely on. Is it possible to create new clean sources of energy and a business environment that will help transform our planet without compromising our way of life?

At the beginning of the year, Euronews began a journey, travelling throughout Europe, seeking out scientists, engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs for their opinions. At the same time, European Voice held regular debates inviting delegates from politics, industry, government and science to take part in finding answers to the burning questions that confront us. Visions of Future Energy is a selection of the opinions expressed in the television programmes.

In this month’s Comment Visions we travel to Norway to talk to a man whose career has involved studying the changing nature of our planet. Dr Pal Prestud is an ecologist and serves as the Director of the Centre for Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. His work has focused on the Polar Regions, which have acted as an early warning system for the sort of climatic changes greenhouse gases are driving.