Initiative Accelerates adoption of Renewable Energy through Mapping Technology

SEATTLE, Wash.— The United Nations’ NGO Committee on Sustainable Development has invited 3TIER CEO Kenneth Westrick to speak on Nov. 4 about how 3TIER’s “REmapping the World™” initiative is accelerating the adoption of renewable energies worldwide.

“There are more than 1.3 billion people around the world with no access to electricity,” said Westrick. “If we want developing nations to ‘leapfrog’ over fossil fuels, they need information about what renewable energy resources or combination of resources exist. REmapping the World is a sophisticated mapping technology initiative to show where renewable resources are, and change the way we look at the world’s energy production options.”

3TIER is one of the world’s largest independent providers of assessment and forecasting of renewable energy.

“REmapping the World is the kind of initiative needed to spur partnerships between public and commercial efforts, which are necessary if we are to make meaningful progress in the advancement of renewable energies,” said Roma Stibravy, chair of the United Nations NGO Committee on Sustainable Development, which was formed to monitor the UN’s sustainable development activities and ensure that the NGO “development community” is kept informed.

Westrick pointed out that 3TIER’s initiative is unparalleled as no other global resource assessment has been done at this scale. “We are developing – at our own cost – high-resolution wind and solar global maps to provide the critical information that has been missing to make renewable energy a viable choice: information regarding the location, availability and value of wind and solar resources.”

3TIER launched REmapping the World in March when it unveiled the first-ever, geographically seamless global wind map at a 15 km resolution. 3TIER is continuing to map the world’s wind resources at a 5 km resolution and posting those maps at http://www.3tier.com/firstlook. The clickable maps provide policy-makers, developers, financiers and others with an easy to use tool to look at potential sites for their renewable energy potential.

Most recently, 3TIER’s wind maps were used by T. Boone Pickens when he introduced The Pickens Plan to demonstrate the viability of wind power in the United States.

“Communities in developing countries finally have – at little or no cost – the information to help them decide whether renewable energy can power their communities,” Westrick said. “For the first time, communities and planners in areas that lack access to power will have the information to decide how renewable energy can power their communities, both on small and large scales.”

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