"There has been war in the past for oil," German Cooperation Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said as oil prices scaled a new record high, driven by terror attacks in Saudi Arabia and the Iraqi conflict.

"There will never be a war to gain access to solar energy," she said. "Oil comes from a region that is particularly rich in conflicts, but renewables are everywhere."

German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, whose country is hosting the event, called on the delegates from 154 countries to commit themselves to boosting wind, solar and other "inexhaustible alternatives" to fossil fuels.

"They promote development and growth in remote rural areas in India's Rajasthan, the same as in Germany's Uckermark," Trittin said.

"They reduce the dependence on oil, they create jobs ... in Germany, 120,000 people now work in the renewables sector.

"They protect our climate and reduce air pollution. In Germany, we save 53 million tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) per year with renewable energies."

The Bonn conference gathers more than 3,000 representatives from corporations, consumers, environmental groups as well as policymakers.

Ministers meet on Thursday and Friday for a "high-level segment" that is expected to yield a political declaration and an action plan.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA) figures, renewables accounted for just five percent of world energy supplies in 2000 compared with 38 percent for oil, 50 percent for coal and gas, and seven percent for nuclear.

By 2030, renewables' share of the market will have risen just a fraction, to six percent, and oil will have remained almost unchanged, at 37 percent. This is because the world's population will have grown, and the thirst for energy correspondingly.

Yet oil, coal and gas are finite sources, as well as the major contributors to global warming, and nuclear power is too controversial for many countries, including Germany, which is phasing it out.

In New York, crude oil futures hit an all-time high, breaching the 42-dollar mark to fall back slightly to 41.80 dollars a barrel at 1511 GMT, a gain on the previous close of 1.92 dollars.

The leading voices in the Bonn forum come from Europe, which is championing the cause of renewable energy.

The 15 countries that made up the European Union (EU) before enlargement by a further 10 nations on May 1 have pledged to derive 22.1 percent of their 2010 energy needs from renewables.

But just a handful -- Denmark, Finland, Germany and Spain -- are on course for meeting the ambitious goal.

Several delegates said that Germany's eagerness to host the conference stemmed in part from its drive to export the clean technology in which it has invested so much.

"We are going to help the planet -- and German industry as well, a little," one privately joked.

Trittin predicted that in 20 years, the market for solar power would be 100 billion dollars, "in other words as much as semi-conductors today."

Germany is staging the symposium to fulfill a vow it made in 2002 at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, where the United States torpedoed hopes for setting a targeted goal for renewables in the world energy mix.

The United States, the world's biggest consumer of oil, has sent only a low-level delegation, comprising five people. The central African state of Burundi, in contrast, has sent 12.

SPACE.WIRE