Seoul, April 23— Energy issues were in the spotlight today at the Business for Environment Summit.

Sir Richard Branson, addressing the audience from Los Angeles by video feed, called upon big business to take up a leadership role. “There is no point going to business unless you can make an enormous difference,” he said.

“Set aside 10-20 percent of profits towards reducing footprints and invest in alternative fuels, so we’re not continuing to import dirty forms of energy,” Branson said. “If business gets on top of that, we’ll be well on the way to solving the issues.”

He briefly outlined his notion of ‘Gaia Capitalism’, a concept inspired by James Lovelock’s Gaia Theory. Branson believes business has a responsibility to develop new, efficient ways of doing business, as well as alternative fuels and systems. Virgin Group has already invested some $256 million in alternative energy initiatives, including trial flights with second generation biofuels.

Branson also called into attention that around energy issues and climate change, communication would also have to be a major weapon beyond just developing new sources of energy.

“Splinter groups have traditionally caused issues around responding to serious global problems,” he said, adding that, “Communication is our main weapon to win this war.” Sharing valid, timely information and educating the masses on energy and climate issues is critical if any response, from business or otherwise, is to gain traction.

Think outside the box

Another heavyweight, fellow entrepreneur, author, and researcher Gunter Pauli also spoke live and introduced his new book, the Blue Economy. In many ways, Pauli provided the most inspiring talk of the day, noting several of the 100 revolutionary technologies explored in the book that can bring about a new economy.

Using the logic of nature and the laws of physics, Pauli is a proponent of solving a wide range of issues, and among them firmly targets energy. He noted one application of vertical wind turbines on existing power pylons that would require a minimum amount of new infrastructure, as well as recycling glass into an energy efficient building material.

In defining the underlying logic of the Blue Economy, Pauli outlined that it was an exercise in reductionist thinking, rather than merely trying to make more stuff.

“Is there a way to substitute something with nothing? Can I get the same outcome for what I’m doing? We’re always thinking ‘better’ or ‘cheaper’—we’re stuck in the same business model,” he said. There were many promising examples of how this thinking could be applied to solving energy issues in a revolutionary new way.

Breaking down the barriers for renewables

From the renewed call for business and entrepreneurs, Angelina Galetiva, Chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy opened the dialogues further around the role government policy needs to play to enable rollout of renewable energy. “Worldwide, there is the emergence of two best practices that speed adoption,” she said.

“One is to have a feed-in tariff for energy generated by projects so that people can be guaranteed some kind of income from their investment,” Galetiva said. “The other is access to the grid. In many areas, shutting out renewables for one reason or another is a major barrier to implementing projects.”

If the policy and technical solutions do not exist, energy generated from renewable installations can’t be put back into the grid for widespread use. This comes at the detriment to both the energy mix available to consumers and project feasibility alike.

Galetiva also pointed out a fundamental difference between incentives and subsidies. “Incentives exist in the short term, to help support development of a new technology, such as solar,” she said. “Subsidies are long term enablers, assisting in industries like the fossil fuel sector.”

She added that incentives for renewable energies were valuable until the point where new technologies became cost competitive as they scaled up and gained more market share. Cooperation between governments at the local, national, and international level was also noted as important to help with policy, funding, deployment, and technology integration.

View traditional sources of energy in a realistic light

Stefan Gsaenger of the World Wind Energy Association likewise had an interesting perspective on barriers to the evolution of the wind industry. He noted that, theoretically, some 20 percent of the world’s energy potential could satisfy 100 percent of global energy demand. Making this a reality would involve a five step process:

• Closing the price gap between historic sources of energy and renewables

• Letting local communities benefit directly from a decentralised energy supply

• Providing sufficient investment security

• Efficient site promotion schemes

• Access to market and administrative support, especially for emerging companies/technologies (this includes feed-in tariffs).

Like Branson, he also touched on the communications issue, noting that often the discussion evolves around the difficulties of renewable energy, rather than framing the opportunities. Vested industry interests should not be allowed to manipulate the consideration and implementation of renewable energy products.

Established companies in the fossil fuel industries try to capture the public favour by presenting oil and coal as well established sure bets, versus the emergence of new technology such as solar, wind, and biogas.

The reality is that when all the externalities of carbon emissions, pollution, war, and other issues are taken into account, the implications and costs of fossil fuels appear much more realistically. Getting the energy policy right and embracing renewables is essential to seriously tackling long-term global issues.

Eco-Business.com’s coverage of the Business for Environment Summit in Seoul is thanks to the support of City Developments Limited (CDL).