Solar energy, LNG dubbed future’s bright energy sources

By Nuran Erkul Kaya

ISTANBUL (AA) - Solar energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be the most important energy sources in the future, according to experts and economist on Wednesday.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said LNG will have the biggest share in the international natural gas trade in coming years.

He was speaking at a session focusing on energy at the 8th Bosphorus Summit in Istanbul.

The global energy agency chief mentioned they have also observed “a steady growth in usage of solar energy”, adding these two sources would be the bright energy sources of the world.

He also cited a recently released World Energy Outlook Report and said the natural gas consumption would continue to increase.

“LNG will come to the global market enormously from the United States and Australia, which will change the equations in global natural gas markets and will have a wide range of impacts from contracts to increasing import options,” he said.

He noted that the costs of solar energy have fallen by half in the last three years and said it will further decrease in the next three years.

Nasser Al-Jaidah, former senior executive of Qatar Petroleum, said that Qatar has more resources of natural gas than that of oil.

However, Al-Jaidah said the use of oil will not end soon. The country would increase its LNG production in competition with the U.S. and Australia, he added.

- Usage of oil

Gulmira Rzayeva, research associate of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and advisor of the Global Gas Center of the World Energy, also echoed Al-Jaidah’s remarks on the oil usage.

She added that oil would continue to be used in the world for at least 30 years, even if its demand is low.

Magdy Martinez-Soliman, UN’s assistant secretary general, spoke at another session of the event focusing on refugees.

He applauded Turkey’s public and private sectors for their support to Syrian refugees.

“Turkey has the largest refugee population in the world. The refugees can survive here with the cooperation among the government, the private sector and the civil society.”

Irena Vojackova-Sollorano, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey, stated that each sections of the society should come forward during natural disasters.

She explained Turkey’s government and non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) works on refugees and said the country has mobilized all of its available resources for the well-being of refugees.

Head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Mehmet Gulluoglu, also spoke at the event and said that the NGOs could play further role on disaster management.

“This is not just the job of the state. The private sector is now stronger than public institutes in some issues, including capital, human resources, equipment and technical capacity.”

* Cigdem Alyanak and Guc Gonel contributed to the story from Istanbul