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VIENNA -10th IAEE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ENERGY POLICIES AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES Lead Author: Mr. Roudi Baroudi, Chief Executive Officer, Energy and Environment Holding E-mail: [email protected] Phone +974 4669970 Overview The Paper attempts to show how the changing energy scene, be it due to scarcity of energy leading to increasing energy prices or climate change effects, has influenced policy change, and technological advances in energy production, consumption, and conservation. With rapid growth in a number of emerging economies, especially the highly populated ones, we have witnessed significant increases in energy demand with attendant increases in prices. This has in-turn ledName, to formulation of Phone, email] [Lead Author’s Affliation, policies, strategies, and regulations aimed at providing incentives for the development of innovative to [2nd Author’s Name, technologies Affliation, Phone, email] enhance energy production, reduce pollution and climate change impacts of energy production and consumption, [Other Author’s Name, Affliation, Phone, email] development of new and renewable sources of energy, and energy efficient technologies for10 industrial andTimes New Roman] [Format: single space, point font, household applications. The rise in energy prices, as had been seen prior to the recent world-wide economic recession, had also rendered economic the development of alternative energy resources that were otherwise uneconomic, thus increasing the envelope of available energy resources that could be tapped to support economic growth. In the same vein the challenge that arises is to ensure that such resources can be development in an environmentally friendly manner, and without impacting adversely on the natural climate. As the world population grows, and living standards in developing countries improve, the demand for energy will increase significantly. The Paper discusses also the linkages between policy and strategy on one hand, and advances in energy technologies on the other hand for sustainable economic growth. The Paper will go into some degree of detail on the costs and benefits of applicable modern energy technologies, and their adaption for application in developing countries, including issues of cost-effective access expansion to the majority of the world’ s underprivileged populations. Methods We now face major development challenges to secure the energy future that would assure efficient sustained economic growth. Meeting the challenges depend on the policies that are adopted as well as the strategic choices that would lead to the desired outcomes. The days of “laissez-faire” economics, where the supply and demand balance is established purely by market forces are gone. It is now up to countries to build planning based on sound economics into development programs to secure cost-effective energy supplies. The significant technological advances that have been made in recent years in the areas of energy production and consumption stem from the policy changes of countries to adapt the changed energy scene of dwindling low cost resources, and the increased awareness of the negative impacts of energy production and consumption on the natural environment and on human health, as well as on the global climate. The advances in boiler technologies with the ultra and super-critical boilers are making it possible to use less fossil fuel, especially coal to achieve same energy production as compared with non super critical boilers. Least-cost generation expansion analyses to establish basis of long-term future generation expansion should incorporate the costs of externalities in comparing alternatives in establishing the long-term least-cost expansion development plan. This raises the debate as to whether the cost carbon dioxide emissions should be included in establishing the merits of coal-based generation, and nuclear powered generation candidates. Such comparison would provide for integrating climate change effects in planning for future power system expansion. The grey area of such analyses remains the appropriate value of a pound or kilogram of carbon dioxide. The solution for analyses lies with the use of range values resulting in alternative solutions to the system’s expansion. Part of the solution lies in regional integration of power systems and the developments of networks in an optimized manner for the entire region. Countries with large low-cost hydropower resource potential, such as the untapped significant potential of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( about 100,000 MW) could serve as a source of low-cost clean energy to serve the needs of Southern Africa in a significant way for many decades with significant positive impacts in reducing climate change impacts of fossil fuel use in the region. Similarly, the development of regional grids for transportation of cleaner fuels, such as gas, across regions and continents is one key means to attaining regional integration. The role of pricing that reflect economic cost of production and distribution is critical in inducing efficiency of consumption and conservation. While this is necessary as a market mechanism, command and control mechanisms are necessary not only for situations where market imperfections exist, but to provide the incentive to industry and households, through direct interventions by setting standards, and providing the financial, taxation and material support. The changed energy scene, and the likelihood of a continuing higher prices have given rise to the development of cutting edge technologies for industrial energy efficiency. In addition, industries are retooling and changing processes to save on energy. Results The methodological approaches help to determine the trade-offs among alternative strategies to securing reliable and cost effective energy supplies to sustain economic growth. Decision makers would have basis to assess the costs of alternative strategies and even the cost of decisions that may be based on political considerations. Conclusions The changes in the energy scene as we have experienced in recent years has made it imperative for policy change towards adaption to the new situation in order to achieve and sustain economic growth. The positive impacts of policy change in inducing the significant advances in technological improvements for energy production, quality and use has been phenomenal. The challenge of climate change has shown how interdependent we are as a global community. Securing reliable and affordable energy for sustain economic growth would require sound policies that integrate economics and technologies effectively.