Jones, Mervyn D. --- "A view from inside the renewable energy industry" [2013] ELECD 728; in Brown, E.L. Abbe (ed), "Environmental Technologies, Intellectual Property and Climate Change" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 265

Book Title: Environmental Technologies, Intellectual Property and Climate Change

Editor(s): Brown, E.L. Abbe

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857934178

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: A view from inside the renewable energy industry

Author(s): Jones, Mervyn D.

Number of pages: 6

Abstract/Description:

The chapters in this book portray the breadth of activity and technology encompassed by the term ‘renewable energy’ and even more so when extended to ‘environmental technology’. Whilst this is encouraging in that it highlights the awareness that there is of the breadth of influence that the human race has in the ecology of the planet, there is a risk of implying that unifying policies can be applied to anything under one of these banner titles without recognizing the very varied landscape within them. In examining the question of whether the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) is constraining the implementation of environmental technologies and, hence, the pace at which a number of global challenges can be addressed, we need to be very conscious of this risk. In this commentary, reflecting on some of the points raised in the book, I will address two questions which sit alongside the IP question, namely, which global challenge are we addressing and, then, what are the key bottle- necks and constraints to addressing that challenge?