Al Gore - Indonesia can be super power on geothermal energy

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Al Gore has predicted that Indonesia can become a geothermal super power country. Speaking to the participants of The Climate Project Asia Pacific Summit here on Sunday, Al Gore said that Indonesia could become a super power country in electricity production from geothermal energy and this would benefit its economy.

He said that Indonesia was the world's third largest electricity producer country from geothermal energy, followed by the Philippines. Geothermal energy is a carbon-free electricity resource, he said. Solutions to climate change involved many steps which could reduce cost and reduce carbon dioxide emission, Al Gore, who is also an Oscar winner for the movie "Inconvenient Truth," said.

Indonesia has a unique carbon emission profile as most of its emissions come from the forest and peat land sectors, he said. Efficient use of land and ground could increase economic values and reduce pollution from green house gas, he said. He said that mitigation efforts such as the termination of burning and opening of peat lands and forest would have a great impact, he said.

"I thank President Yudhoyono for his idea, courage and leadership on issues that we have discussed and worked on," he said. Al Gore praised President Yudhoyono because the president had initiated to speak up at a time when there was no initiative coming from G-77 member countries, to break the impasse in the international conference of climate change.

There has been improvement in the climate change conference thanks to Yudhoyono's leadership, he said. "I do respect him and admire his leadership and the target he promised in Kopenhagen," Al Gore said.