Michael Liebreich is Head of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the leading provider of information and research to senior investors, executives and policymakers in clean energy and the carbon markets. He founded the company in 2004 and acted as Chairman and Chief Executive until its acquisition by Bloomberg at the end of 2009. Liebriech will be a speaker at the Singapore Energy Summit 2011.
Q1. Can you tell us a bit about current clean energy investment trends in the Asia Pacific?
Q2. What are some of the key challenges in securing financing for solar and wind power projects?
Q3. What is the prospect for an APAC-wide carbon exchange?
Q4. What do you see as the greatest risks for investors with renewable energy projects and how do you advise that they mitigate these risks?
Q5. What do you foresee as the catalyst for a global paradigm shift towards adoption of ubiquitous renewable energy?
Meanwhile, fossil fuels remain polluting and dangerous, and they get more expensive and risky. So the paradigm shift is happening. The question is, what could speed it up? The answer lies in the power of knowledge. When consumers, businesses, politicians and regulators wake up to the inevitability of the shift, then everyone will realise they have to be part of it. Right now, there is so much energy being expended trying to preserve a status quo that has become totally dysfunctional, out of fear that there might be nothing to replace it. If we don't let Exxon run riot in the Arctic, our standard of living will collapse. That's nonsense. And when it is recognised as such, the world will get down to the nuts and bolts of swapping out dirty energy for clean, which is a manageable engineering and finance process.
By: Energy Market Authority (Singapore)