Global Leaders Meet to Collaborate on Energy
Efficiency Goals
EERE Network News - May 12, 2010
print email blog
Leaders from 15 countries, the European Commission, and the United
States gathered on May 11 for the first policy meeting of the
International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). The
group sought to forge partnerships among governments to combat climate
change, reduce the use of fossil fuels, and boost the global clean
energy economy. DOE Assistant Secretary Cathy Zoi, elected to a two-year
term as the first chair of the IPEEC policy committee, called for
nations to use unprecedented speed and scale in the effort to deploy
energy efficiency, thereby cutting energy demand and emissions worldwide
while building economic development. Assistant Secretary Zoi heads DOE's
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
IPEEC was launched in May 2009 by the Group of Eight Energy Ministers,
and last year, IPEEC member countries contributed more than $1.6 million
in funding to support its six key energy efficiency initiatives. These
projects include: an effort to share the best efficiency practices
through on-site training and online materials, with technical assistance
provided by the International Energy Agency and DOE's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory; the Sustainable Buildings Network, which connects
numerous building efficiency organizations to focus on intelligent
tropical architecture, zero-energy buildings, and innovative policies to
make existing buildings more efficient; an undertaking to assess how
energy efficiency efforts can better leverage financing from domestic
sources, such as commercial banks; a forum for industry leaders and
policymakers to share ideas on managing and reporting industrial energy
consumption; better application of energy efficiency indicators that
measure and report energy performance—such as energy consumption per ton
of steel produced—to allow countries to better meet energy and carbon
reduction goals; and a global initiative, launched with the support of
the Major Economies Forum (MEF), to collaborate across borders on test
methods for measuring appliance efficiency and on efficiency incentives
for appliance manufacturers. The United States is the lead country for
the latter effort and has committed to support it with up to $3 million
per year in funding.
IPEEC members include Brazil, Canada, China, the European Commission,
France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Russian
Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Indonesia and
South Africa also sent observers, and Australia joined as a member
during the meeting. All IPEEC members are also members of the MEF's
Global Partnership that is collaborating to accelerate the global switch
to clean energy. All MEF partners have been invited to send their clean
energy technology ministers to the first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial,
hosted by DOE on July 19 and 20 in Washington, D.C. See the DOE press
release:
http://www.energy.gov/news/8962.htm
The EERE Network News is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is also available on the EERE Web site
at http://www.eere.energy.gov.
|