Malta Independent: Energy crisis: ‘Solutions are within our grasp’ – CEO, Shell UK: Thursday 24 November 2005

“The solutions to the world’s energy problems are within our grasp. However we have to work hard to achieve them,” the chairman of Shell UK, James Smith, said yesterday.

Speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum, Mr Smith said energy was a global issue and the energy supply may well double between now and 2050. He said there was no single successor to fossil fuels, but future fuel-needs would be obtained from a variety of sources.

He said the richest one billion people on the planet consumed 50 per cent of total world-energy consumption.

“This will put considerable pressure on us to find cheaper, cleaner alternatives,” Mr Smith said.

“Partnerships with car-makers and energy products will be important,” he said.

Turning to alternative energy sources, Mr Smith said low-carbon solutions were needed.

Wind and solar energy were still expensive and subsidies would be required for them to come into place. The use of wind energy would grow in future but there were still issues that had to be resolved, namely issues of defence and the risk to biodiversity.

Looking at carbon emissions today and by mid-century, Mr Smith said a huge effort was required to limit emissions to sustainable levels.

“If business continues producing gas emissions at the same rate today, by mid-century the situation would be unsustainable,” he added.

Giving an overview of what the future energy demand might be like, Mr Smith said the use of coal may double by 2050. He said that to counter this, nuclear energy use would have to be three times what it is today.

“The use of gas and low-carbon fuels would have to continue to grow at significant rates, vehicle fleets would have to be more efficient and 50 per cent vehicles would have to be zero emissions. Wind energy will have to be 70 times what it is today and world-energy efficiency would have to increase by over one per cent a year, compared to 0.4 per cent that is it today,” Mr Smith said.

The solutions, he said, were in our grasp.

“There are four elements to a successful strategy. We need leadership that is sustained over a long period. We need international agreement on a future strategy. If we can solve trade problems, then we can also solve our energy problems. Furthermore, we need public support and our behaviour, in general, also has to change. Finally, we have to use the market to find the best technologies and carbon has to become a tradeable currency,” Mr Smith said.

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