Can renewable energies be turned to a source of advantage by developing countries?

Traditional industrial development pathways, that did not take into explicit consideration the issue of energy technologies to be utilized, now imperil development prospects around the world. As oil supplies approach their peak globally, and energy security becomes a major issue, so developing countries have everything to lose by simply following fossil-fuel based industrialization, and everything to gain by recasting their development strategies around the prospects for renewable energies and biofuels. This is now a feasible prospect, as shown dramatically by the Brazilian experience, now being replicated in many developing countries, including most notably in India and China. This paper argues that the time is therefore ripe for developing countries, and development agencies such as the World Bank, to re-evaluate their stance on biofuels. Developing countries, particularly in the tropics, have an abundance of land, water and sunshine that give them a competitive advantage in biofuels, and for the development of a new industry - ergoculture - that will stand alongside traditional agriculture. The paper argues that a swing behind biofuels can unlock a chain reaction of favorable developmental processes - provided developing countries seize the initiative and set in place renewable energy industry creation projects before the developed world has managed to shake itself out of its fossil fuel dependence. In doing so, they will do a great service to themselves and to everyone concerned with the disastrous prospects of global climate change.