Influential Energy Agency Blows off Wind Power [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
The International Energy Agency [3] (IEA), which "advises most major governments across the world on energy policy," has systematically underestimated the potential of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, "because of its ties to the oil, gas and nuclear sectors," charges Energy Watch, a group of scientists and politicians. Swiss parliamentarian Rudolf Rechsteiner, a member of Energy Watch, said that IEA was "delaying the change to a renewable world. They continue touting nuclear [4] and carbon-capture-and-storage [5], classical central solutions, instead of a more neutral approach, which would favour new solutions." An Energy Watch report (pdf) [6] documents that IEA has dramatically underestimated wind power capacity over the past decade. IEA's current projection "predicts a fivefold increase in wind energy from 2006-2015, but then assumes a rapid slowdown" without explaining why "the wind sector should suffer such a crisis by 2015 and after." IEA, which refused to comment on the report, draws "senior staff from the fossil-fuel industry."