Is it possible to stop climate change and keep or even improve the quality of life on our planet by giving up on nuclear energy? Politicians, scientists, and journalists tried to answer this question at the international conference in Athens, dedicated to conventional, nuclear, and restorable energy sources.

“The Greek energy program does not plan nuclear energy development until 2020. What will happen after that I cannot predict. All our neighbors are building nuclear plants,” said development minister Hristos Folias. According to him the negative attitude towards the subject is also a matter of local politics, and Greek public opinion.

Energy from replaceable resources wins over many supporters. Right now in Greece, 20 mega watts are produced from wind and sun, because the government has developed a 20 year program to encourage this type of energy. Hristos Folias announced that the ministry of development will present a bill for energy and replaceable energy sources, which will propose long-term stimuli and privileges for those who invest in this type of energy.

“Transport is climate’s biggest enemy, because 21% of harmful emissions in the EU come from it, without including air and sea transport,” admitted transport minister Kostas Hadjidakis. He said that only in Athens, the number of cars has doubled in the last 10 years. During 1998 the cars in Athens were 26 thousand, and today they are 2 million and 400 thousand. “Our primary goal should be to convince people not to use their cars so much. Today, half of our city’s population uses their car daily,” added Mr. Hadjidakis.

The other thing, which the Transport Ministry is working on, is the expansion of the public transportation. Until 2010 the tram lines should reach Piraeus, the electric train will be extended and will reach the Athens-Thessaloniki highway. In 2 years the first bicycle lanes should be ready in the Greek capital. In the centre of Athens 17km alleys are being built, in the Northern suburbs 10km alleys, and in other part another 6km. Similar alleys are being built in Thessaloniki as well.

The transport minister announced that the metro will continue working until 2am on Friday and Saturday in spite of the disagreeing metro employees. Kostas Hadjidakis also said that the Athens municipality and the ministry of transport have bought 520 new buses for public transportation, out of which 200 run on natural gas. This makes the city the only one in Europe with that many environmentally friendly busses.