On the key issue of helping developing nations deal with global warming, Hillary Clinton said that the U.S. would join other countries in raising $100 billion.

But the likely economic impact of cleaning up the environment is preventing many nations from committing to a regulatory blueprint.

Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera English reports from Shanxi province in the coal belt of northern China.

How concerned are you about the economic impact of tougher environmental standards?

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This week, world leaders from almost 200 countries are meeting to discuss the future of our planet. From Tonga and Mauritius to Japan and Brazil, the community of nations hopes to enact lasting change.

Watch all the videos from Worldfocus’ signature series: Green Energy in Denmark.

While a host of difficult decisions often scare business leaders, voters and politicians, global pressure continues to mount. China and India, as well as the U.S. and E.U., have already committed to significant cuts in the release of harmful greenhouse gases.

Will China accept slower economic growth, stricter rules and higher energy costs that could result? While virtually no one in China denies climate change, debate focuses on the speed of the shift to renewable energy.

Joining Martin Savidge from Beijing is Greenpeace China’s senior campaigner Rashid Kang and from Washington D.C. Julian Wong, senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

Windmills in China’s far western Xinjiang provice. Photo: Flickr user gzlu

They explore the following issues:

• how China is greening rapidly and developing many alternative energy programs — from the world’s most efficient coal power plants to vast wind power fields and solar water heating technology
• why nuclear power could be the wrong alternative energy solution for China
• how food security affects China’s alternative energy strategy
• why there are no climate change skeptics in China, but why China can’t go green overnight
• and, the holy grail of renewables — energy storage.

GUESTS:

Rashid Kang is a senior campaigner on climate and energy issues for Greenpeace China. Originally from an overseas Chinese Malaysian family and trained as an engineer, he has worked on development and democratization issues in different parts of Asia over the past 10 years.

Julian L. Wong is a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C., where he works on climate change, energy and environmental policy. Julian researched clean energy as a Fulbright scholar in Beijing and writes regularly at GreenLeapForward.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Ben Piven and Lisa Biagiotti

Worldfocus’ John Larson has been reporting on Denmark’s forward-thinking energy policy, as the small Scandinavian nation plays host to the Copenhagen summit.

Here, he journeys to Denmark’s Samso Island. In 1998, Samso, population 4,000, won a national contest with a bold plan to completely switch to renewable energy.

In just ten short years, the island has achieved its goal of becoming carbon-neutral. Residents use wind, sun — and even rapeseed oil — to power their homes and cars.

Worldfocus’ John Larson has been reporting on Denmark’s forward-thinking energy policy in the weeks leading up to the Copenhagen summit.

Here, he visits a housing development outside of of Copenhagen where residents use astonishingly little in the way of energy — and heating bills have dropped to as little as $15 a month.

Last week, we showed you how everyday Danes profit from pioneering wind power. But there’s a challenge — how to store that power when the wind isn’t blowing, or in the case of solar power, when the sun isn’t shining.

Denmark is searching for answers, including building Europe’s first “hydrogen neighborhood” — homes that are powered and heated with the help of hydrogen fuel cells. John Larson reports from Denmark.

Long ago, Denmark pioneered wind power, which now accounts for 20 percent of its energy production. Everyday Danish citizens — from farmers to art dealers — invested in windmills. Worldfocus special correspondent John Larson reports on how Danish citizens are capturing windfall profits.

Worldfocus producer John Larson reports from Copenhagen, Denmark on how changing lifestyles, taxing energy and subsidizing alternative technologies have reduced the country’s dependency on oil and created thousands of new jobs.

In Denmark, a Ford Focus costs $51,000 — $34,000 of which are taxes. The Danish economy has grown 78 percent, while cutting carbon emissions in half. The country has also become a net exporter of energy — wind alone has created 30,000 new jobs.

According to Iran’s state-run Press TV, Amiri worked as a researcher at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University.

Many in Iran assume that Amiri defected, but the U.S. denies any involvement.

Nazanine Moshiri of Worldfocus partner Al Jazeera English reports from Tehran.

The Korean green plan emerges as environmental delegations from around the globe hold meetings to discuss a new climate agreement to be ratified by the end of the year in Copenhagen — replacing the Kyoto Protocol due to expire in 2012.

Steve Chao of Al Jazeera English reports from South Korea.

Worldfocus’ Ivette Feliciano, Bryan Myers and Ara Ayer venture to the “Salar de Uyuni” — the largest salt flat in the world, and one that may turn out to be the key to Bolivia’s future economic growth.

For more on how Bolivia and other developing countries might leverage their resources, listen to our online radio show on resources in the developing world.

For more Worldfocus coverage of Bolivia, visit our extended coverage page: On the Ground in Bolivia.

Tajik people have weathered harsh winters and shortages in electricity.

The International Crisis Group recently stated that Tajikistan, a small country bordering Afghanistan, is “on the road to failure.”

For the second winter in a row, the country is facing energy infrastructure problems. Hundreds of Tajiks died in the cold or went hungry last winter, due to electricity shortages and crop devastation. This year, the U.S. has pledged $5 million in emergency aid to help needy Tajiks.

Ilan Greenberg of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting ventures to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and writes in the “Untold Stories” blog about the country’s crippling problems.

Dushanbe

On the Turkish Airlines flight into Dushanbe, the young American woman sitting next to me was enthusiastic about her next three days of personal freedom in Tajikistan. She is a political officer at the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. “I’m looking forward to being able to walk around on streets,” she told me in a slight southern twang. “It will feel good to be in a normal city.”

Dushanbe comes off well when compared to, say, Kabul. But the Tajik capital fares less well in comparison to most other places. Running water and electricity are pretty constant in the tree-lined city center. But basic, working infrastructure degrades the farther it is from government ministries and the presidential residence dominating Dushanbe’s low rise urban nucleus. Drive just a few minutes and street lights stop working, apartment block windows flicker by minuscule candle light, and only the piercing of flashlights break the blackness in alleyways and courtyards.

The situation is even more dire outside Dushanbe’s city limits. Tajikistan’s borders are heavily patrolled by soldiers and guards (with significant assistance from American drug enforcement officials) trying to interdict the huge poppy smuggling coming out of neighboring Afghanistan in the south (or profit from it, in which case presumably without assistance from American drug enforcement officials) and with the smuggling of about everything else from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the north and east.

The countryside is wracked by devastating problems – from catastrophic water and energy shortages to rampant child labor practices in the cotton fields to jobless villages where Tajik men returning from Russia face unending unemployment. Last winter was catastrophic for farmers – a devastating cold front moved into the country and stayed for months, knocking out the winter crop. People froze and went hungry. This winter was warmer, but farmers continue to buckle under the hardships of lack of accessible water, lack of electricity, and the widespread and enforced requirement to grow unprofitable and unsustainable cotton.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Brian Harrington Spier under a Creative Commons license.

Michael Levi, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and expert on nuclear proliferation, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the threat posed by Iran, whether the country’s nuclear ambitions are peaceful and Russia’s involvement with Iran’s nuclear program.

Algae.

“Another day, another algae company,” says Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media.

Algae-based energy may not share the popularity of corn-based or sugar-based biofuels, but it is projected to be in commercial production within three years.

Along with green revolution trends like natural gas, nuclear power and ethanol fuel blends, people around the world are exploring a host of other “alternative” alternative fuels.

In Canada, a new cellulosic ethanol plant will make use of beetle-killed wood.

Blogger Patrick Kiger of “Is This a Good Idea?” weighs the idea of using artificial tornadoes to generate electricity.

Blogger “Naija Pundit” of “My Nigeria” excerpts a report from a Nigerian man using his septic tank as a bioreactor to generate electricity, provocatively joking that the success of this practice could put national power companies out of business.

In Patagonia, South America, plant scientist Gary Strobel has discovered a forest fungus that produces many of the same hydrocarbons found in diesel. Strobel proposes that it might be genetically combined with faster-reproducing bacteria to develop new energy sources.

In the arena of consumer vehicles, an air-powered CityCat car is schedule to arrive in the U.S. by early 2010. A version of the car was supposed to be in production in India in July, and the “Xtreme Machines” blog provides an overview of the machine.  Yet reports say that the technology is still in development.

Blogger Noel of “Green Stumbler” showcases other air-powered cars including South Africa’s Air Car, the South Korean Energine engine, and the French K’Airmobile.

Michael Kanellos at “Greentech Media” reports that Japanese car manufacturer Nissan is now developing a car that charges itself.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Olfert under a Creative Commons license.

Brendan Fitzsimmons, the head strategist for Medley Global Advisors, speaks with Martin Savidge about how the cut will affect Americans in the long and short term. He also discusses the market’s influence and the future of oil prices and OPEC.

Also see our interactive energy map, which illustrates worldwide distribution and consumption of natural resources like oil, natural gas and water.

Watch an interview with Peter Coy of Business Week magazine about the effects of the price plunge.

On Dec. 17, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC) is scheduled to meet to assess the international oil market situation. OPEC slashed oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day on Oct. 24, attempting to stabilize free-falling oil prices.

With resources dwindling, energy dominates many political and economic debates. Our Interactive map illustrates worldwide distribution and consumption of natural resources like oil, natural gas, biofuels and water. It answers some fundamental questions about global energy:

Which countries use the most resources?
Which countries produce the most?
What countries are exploring the use of biofuels?

For instance, each day the U.S. produces 7.46 million barrels of oil — more in volume than that of the Empire State Building — but this production provides for only 30 percent of America’s oil consumption.

So, where does the rest come from? North American neighbors Mexico and Canada are also top oil producers, shipping much of their oil to the U.S. A “click” around the world shows that the greatest producer of oil is Saudi Arabia — another major source of American oil.

Click on Japan and you’ll see that it’s a top consumer of oil, natural gas and freshwater, but does not have significant reserves for these resources. Which neighboring countries have the resources Japan needs? Which countries may be competing for these resources?

The map is interactive, which means you can click on its countries and resources. Use the arrows or click and drag to move around the globe, or click on the home icon to return to the full world map. For more information about the icons and coloring, visit the “key” located in the lower left-hand corner.