ENERGY-METEOROLOGY - A NEW DISCIPLINE

''ENERGY'' continues to be a priority area in several WMO programmes a nd activities. The relationships between the many aspects of energy in a societal context and climate/weather are becoming increasingly evid ent. Energy is one of the driving forces in socio-economic development . Many forms of energy are using climate as a resource, especially new and renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind energy. Product ion and use of energy has a complex impact on the environment, includi ng an impact on climate and the need for energy is normally directly r elated to climate and weather. Formally this is reflected in such docu ments as the WMO Long-term Plan where the following objectives of the World Climate Programme have been formulated: (i) To facilitate the ef fective collection and management of climate data and the monitoring o f the global climate system, including the detection and assessment of climate variability and changes; (ii) To foster the effective applica tion of climate knowledge and information for the benefit of society a nd the provision of climate services, including the prediction of sign ificant climate variations both natural and as a result of human activ ity; (iii) To assess the impacts of climate variability and changes th at could markedly affect economic or social activities and advise gove rnments thereon, and contribute to the development of a range of socio -economic response strategies that could be used by governments and th e community; (iv) To improve the understanding of climate processes fo r determining the predictability of climate, including its variability and change, identifying the extent of human influence on climate and developing the capability for climate prediction.