Drowning Nations: Tuvulu vows to kick fossil energy by 2020

Above: The first major solar system in Tuvalu, atop the stadium roof in the capital, Funafuti, is the first step towards a national goal of being powered entirely by renewable energy sources by 2020. Credit: e8

Tiny archipelago nation Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation in the world, sits in the middle of the South Pacific. Composed of four coral reef islands and five atolls, most of Tuvalu is less than one meter (three feet) above sea level. Periodic high tides (called king tides) have gotten notably worse in the past decade, causing increasingly destructive flooding. It's confronting the government and its 12,000 citizens with the reality of global warming.

Tuvalu was settled around 3,000 years ago. If global business as usual continues, Tuvaluans might have to abandon their 10 square miles of home well before the end of this century.

So as China, India, the United States and other major emitters of greenhouse gas pollution jockey for position on the road to Copenhagen, Tuvalu has vowed to totally break with fossil energy by 2020.

Well okay: with no heavy industry and almost no natural resources, Tuvalu's carbon footprint is extremely small, both per capita and in absolute terms. But the point is to make a point. "We look forward to the day when our nation offers an example to all," Public Utilities Minister Kausea Natano told the BBC this week, "powered entirely by natural resources such as the sun and the wind."

The government believes it will take around $20 million to convert the entire archipelago to renewable energy.

So far, with the logistical assistance of e8 (a non-profit consortium of utilities from G8 nations) and funding from two Japanese utilities, it's installed a $410,000, 40 kilowatt solar power system on the roof of the country's largest soccer stadium in the capital, Funafuti. In operation for around 14 months, the array is estimated to have cut Tuvalu's consumption of fuel oil (which is shipped in from New Zealand) by about 17,000 litres, and its CO2 emissions by about 50 tons.

The government now aims to bring solar power to Tuvalu's outer islands. Later this year, it's planning to erect an $800,000, 46 kilowatt solar power system for a secondary school on Vaitupu.

"There may be other larger solar power installations in the world, but none could be more meaningful to customers than this one," Takao Shiraishi, general manager of Japan's Kansai Electric Power Company, told reporters.

Said Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Programme: "In a sense, they are paving the way for medium and larger economies which have to move if we are going combat climate change."

Related articles:

Tuvalu plots world's first zero carbon output by 2020 (The Telegraph)

At risk from rising seas, Tuvalu seeks clean power (Reuters)

Tuvalu vows to go carbon neutral (BBC News)

Drowning island pins hopes on clean energy (CNN)

Tiny Tuvalu: If we can do it, so can you (Carbon News)