Energy experts review 1981 Nairobi action plan.

• Position: Nairobi Programme of Action for the Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy is still valid - Brief Article

An intergovernmental group of experts has concluded that the Nairobi Programme of Action for the Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy is still valid, despite slow progress in realizing many of its goals.

New priorities should reflect concern for the environment, a subject not considered when the Plan was adopted at a global conference in Kenya in 1981. Also, other priorities should be reshuffled to reflect changes over the last decade in such areas as finance, economic growth and the state of development of energy technologies.

The experts urged promotion of mature, cost-effective technologies that are "environmentally benign". Some examples are: low- and moderate-temperature solar energy in domestic and industrial applications; large-scale electricity production using solar and wind technology; and programmes using fuelwood and charcoal.

The group, in its 10-year review and assessment of the global plan at a special meeting in New York from 26 to 30 August, considered progress reports on specific new and renewable sources of energy, which include solar, wind and geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, biomass, tar sands and oil shale sources, as well as such traditional sources as...