For the first time, the energy ministers of 24 industrial and threshold countries came together in Washington last week, to discuss energy efficiency and renewable energy. 11 initiatives were launched during the meeting to address these issues. The projects include electric vehicles, solar energy, smart grids and household appliance efficiency.
Everyone at the conference has agreed that the issue of renewable energy is extremely important and many proposed a doubling of investments in clean technologies, but no actual financial commitments were made. These meetings will now be held on an annual basis, the next one scheduled for the United Arab Emirates and the 2012 meeting is set to take place in the United Kingdom.
One important initiative created at the meeting was the Carbon Capture, Use and Storage Action Group. This group aims to establish infrastructure around the world for carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) by 2020. Germany will be a part of this initiative, as well as the following three other: the Electric Vehicle Initiative, the super-efficient equipment and appliance deployment initiative and it will head the Multilateral Solar and Wind Working Group, together with Denmark.
If you would like more information about the meeting and the initiatives, you can read the following article: http://nyti.ms/aMEgVd
