Although the global climate summit in Copenhagen is focusing on national governments with today’s high-level meetings, the critical importance of local action continued to stay at the forefront of energy discussions. As Ricardo Cordoba, president of GE Energy Western Europe & North Africa, told Bloomberg News, local governments — rather than national ones — will likely be taking the lead when it comes to installing new clean energy technologies. “I strongly believe that the regions will have more and more importance in the future,” Ricardo said, noting that when it comes to power generation and heating, “who other than the regions will do this?” The general secretary of the Assembly of the European Regions echoed that sentiment, telling Bloomberg: “A global strategic goal is important, but someone has to implement that. Sixty percent of all adaptation and mitigation is happening on the regional and local level.”

One of the solutions likely to emerge at the regional level — and one that is gaining momentum in China — is the cleaner coal technology known as IGCC, which stands for an integrated gasification combined cycle system. Power plants with the technology use a complex mix of chemical scrubbers and systems to produce electricity with much lower emissions than conventional coal plants. In the audio clip below, Monte Atwell, General Manager of the Gasification group at GE Energy, describes his team’s work with IGCC technology and his recent participation on a Copenhagen panel that focused on alternative energy solutions such as this in developing countries.

Monte Atwell
Monte Atwell

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Those regional solutions to energy issues will need to draw on a broad variety of technologies if emissions are to be reduced — and renewable energy such as wind power is seen as being a critical part. But as GE Energy’s president and CEO John Krenicki told the BBC during the summit, the economic fundamentals must be in place if widespread adoption of new technologies such as wind is to occur.” We think free trade has got to be at the top of the list at Copenhagen in terms of how you make this transformation happen quickly and appropriately,” he said.

* Listen to the full BBC interview

A talk given by the International Energy Association’s Tom Kerr, above, focused on what’s called “cogeneration” power systems and the lead role that local government can play in it.
Going local: A talk given by the International Energy Association’s Tom Kerr, above, focused on what’s called “cogeneration” power systems and the lead role that local government can play in it. The technology is one that is used in GE’s Jenbacher Combined Heat & Power systems, which takes waste heat that’s produced during an engine’s operation and turns it into generated power. That power can then be used by the facility that generated it — or fed into the public power grid. Alternatively, the heat produced can be used for generating heating water and for various types of process heat.

* Read “At the Copenhagen summit: An evolution in business” on GE Reports
* Read “Google & GE call for home energy info in Copenhagen” on GE Reports