One of the world's top experts on energy and the environment offered solutions to ease the Island's reliance on oil at a public meeting last night.

Dr. John Byrne, Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP), gave examples of successful energy efficiency and conservation projects around the globe which could prove models for Bermuda to follow.

Up to 100 people attended last night's Department of Energy forum at Bermuda College. It was part of a series of public consultations to draft a Green Paper on a National Energy Policy.

Dr. Byrne, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the University of Delaware, US, is one of the consultants assisting Government with recommendations on which strategies may best suit the Island.

He began the meeting by stressing the urgent need for all nations to address the issue of global warming. Explaining that 75-80 percent of greenhouse gases released by humans comes from the combustion of fossil fuels, Dr. Byrne said the reality of climate change could be even worse than what scientists have forecast.

"The problem that we are dealing with may be accelerating faster than we are able to model, as scientists have a problem keeping up with the data," he said.

According to a 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the mean global surface temperature has increased by 0.74 percent in the past 100 years (1906-2005), and 11 of the warmest years on record have occurred during the past 12 years.

Dr. Byrne, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning member of the IPCC, said: "We consider the evidence more than 90 percent, that there's a human effect on the carbon cycle.

"We need a 60 percent cut of our CO2 emissions below our 1990 levels and we have roughly to mid-century, 2050, to meet that change, in order to put us back in balance with the carbon cycle.

"Today around the world, each of us has a budget on carbon, and this is 3.3 tons of carbon dioxide per year."

He said: "What we need to do is build a society where energy efficiency and conservation becomes a priority. This will give you the fastest reduction in CO2 possible because you are lowering demand. The IPCC has stressed to countries they have to have a vigorous energy efficiency and conservation programme. We can all do this."

Dr. Byrne said the second solution was a reduction in carbon through better use of land resources, such as in agriculture, plus the preservation of forests.

The third solution was the proliferation of renewable energy.

"It is not as important as energy efficiency and conservation at this time but if we look after 2030, renewables take up the remainder of the task of getting CO2 out of the system," said Dr. Byrne.

Giving examples of policies around the world which have cut energy consumption and emissions, he said Bermuda should consider the introduction of Fuel Economy Standards in transportation, such as those pioneered by California and now taken up by the US Government, at 35 mpg by 2020.

Another option was to follow the lead of 29 US states which have introduced renewable energy platforms through Climate Change Action Plans. Dr. Byrne said Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) give utility companies "the opportunity to move from a non-renewable to a renewable business".

Dr. Byrne also spoke of the Thamesway Ltd. project in the UK, an Energy and Environmental Services Company owned by Woking Borough Council to deliver energy and environmental strategies and targets. Since 1996, the public/private joint venture has resulted in residential energy efficiency improving by 33 percent, with a drop in CO2 emissions of 21 percent.

Meanwhile in a Tokyo suburb, designers have been challenged to come up with ideas on how to integrate solar panels into buildings aesthetically, and in San Francisco, a $100 million green energy bond is financing solar panels, energy efficiency and wind turbines for public buildings. The money that would have gone to buy electricity from power plants instead goes to pay down the bond.

Across the bay at Berkeley, a voluntary increase in property tax payments to finance solar energy in homes has proved so successful, Dr. Byrne said the scheme was oversubscribed.

In Bermuda, he said the Island's Sustainable Development Implementation Plan was a "good platform" on which to build new initiatives.

"I would like to salute the community for its Sustainable Plan," said Dr. Byrne. "It looks very comprehensive and is something that can be built upon and which can get the community towards this new direction.

"You also might consider an Energy Efficiency Target – that as a condition of sale of electricity, Belco must provide a certain percentage through RECs."

Dr. Byrne also recommended a Renewable Energy Target and a Sustainable Energy Utility – a non-profit body which develops renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) to compete with conventional utility companies, as has been introduced in Delaware, US.

In Bermuda, he also recommended that import duties should be dropped for energy efficient goods.

"Those goods and resources which meet the low carbon standards set by the community, they should get to enter the community at a different tariff than those which are higher," said Dr. Byrne.

SEE EDITORIAL, PAGE 4