BONN, Germany, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- An international symposium on renewable energy opened here Tuesday with participants from 154 countries calling for an expansion in the use of renewable energies worldwide.

    About 1,000 government officials and more than 3,000 representatives from corporations, consumers and environmental groups are attending the four-day "Renewables 2004" conference.

    Delegates from the United Nations, other international and non-governmental organizations and the private sector are attending the meeting held amid a surge of interest triggered by rising oil prices driven higher by increasing demand, the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and the Iraq war.

    The conference will discuss ways of promoting and increasing the use of renewable energy technologies harnessing the wind, the waves, the sun and geothermal heat in both the industrialized and developing countries.

    The conference is responding to the call of the Johannesburg Summit in 2002 to promote the development of renewable energy, organizers said.

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

    But oil, coal and gas are finite sources and nuclear is too controversial for many countries, including this conference's hosting country.

    On Tuesday, oil prices soared by over one US dollar on the London market, spurred by fears of disruption to supplies from Saudi Arabia following attacks by suspected Al-Qaeda militants. Enditem