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Renewable energy

Mountains play as key role in providing renewable energy, especially through hydropower, solar power, wind power and biogas for downstream cities and remote mountain communities.

Hydropower currently provides around a fifth of all electricity worldwide, and some countries rely almost exclusively on mountain regions for hydropower generation In Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru, at least 95 percent of hydropower is generated in mountain regions.

Solar power can also be efficiently produced in mountains and other cold regions - contrary to popular belief. The Himalayas and Tropical Andes are particularly promising locations for the development of solar energy, where installations could produce approximately 20 percent more energy than they could at sea level. In Nepal, for example, almost all remote airports and telecommunication facilities are powered by solar energy; solar cookers are widely used in the mountain regions of China and India.

Wind power is a vast, but largely untapped source of potential sustainable energy in mountains. Even at lower elevations, the terrain and topography of mountains can create wind corridors with high wind speeds that are ideally suited for wind turbine development.

Sustainable energy brings benefits to human health, the mountain environment and global climate. Reduced dependency on firewood, for example, can lead to fewer respiratory diseases, improved water and soil conservation, and less black carbon (soot) in the atmosphere – one of the most widespread short-lived climate pollutants. However, many sustainable energy sources in mountains remain unused or underutilized.

Presenting results on renewable energy in Alps

news

The Alps offer great potential for renewable energy production. But this simultaneously increases the pressure on nature. The partners in the international recharge.green project have found ways to ensure this balancing act succeeds. They will be presenting their results at the final conference to be held on 20-21 May 2015...

Transnational Working Table 1

event

The first of two workshops on the results of projects in mountainous European countries and on the development of the Alps will allow participants to share knowledge and experiences on Alpine Space Projects. The meeting will also discuss WikiAlps, an encyclopaedia-like online platform, and its potential use in policy design...

Why Mountains Matter for Energy – a call to action on the sustainable development goals

publication

Why Mountains Matter for Energy – a call to action on the sustainable development goals

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International conference on balancing renewable energy and nature in the Alps

event

With demand for renewable energy growing across Europe, the partners of the international project recharge.green are working to reconcile using renewable energy sources, preserving nature and ecosystem service provisioning and keeping conflicts to a minimum. The project is establishing a decision support system for politicians and energy producers. Hear the...

Multimedia on policy recommendations for SMD in the Andes

news

During the Regional Workshop Post-Rio +20 "Sustainable Mountain Development: Building the future we need" held on November 12-14 in Lima, Peru, the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN) launched a multimedia which containing key information and policy recommendations for sustainable mountain development in the Andes.

The...

Bio-Refineries: ideas for a Sustainable World

event

The III Latin American Congress on Biorefinery will be held at the Grand Hotel of the lake resort of Pucon, Chile, between 19 and 21 November 2012. The organization is run by the Technology Development Department, the Center of biotechnology, both from the Concepcion University, and the Science and Technology...