| US, EU to establish Energy Council | |
| Lalit K Jha/ PTI / Washington November 4, 2009, 13:03 IST | |
The US and EU have announced they would establish an Energy Council at ministerial level in an effort to further strengthen research and collaboration on sustainable and clean energy technologies and also study the use of nuclear power in this regard.
According to a joint statement issued at the end of the US-EU 2009 Summit, the Energy Council will study diversification of energy sources, such as through increased use of liquefied natural gas (LNG), solar power, wind power and bio-fuels, and the use of nuclear power.
Members of the Council on the US side are the Secretaries of State and Energy, and on the EU side they are the Commissioners for External Relations, Energy and Science and Research, as well as the EU Presidency, assisted by the Secretary General or High Representative.
The council among other things will discuss how to effectively promote global energy security on the basis of transparent, stable and non-discriminatory global energy markets and diversified energy sources.
It will foster energy policy cooperation, bilaterally and with third countries, aimed at improving energy security, enhancing energy efficiency, and deepening research, development, demonstration and deployment of sustainable and clean energy technologies.
In particular, the Energy Council will support action to make energy markets stable, reliable and transparent, particularly in oil and gas and electricity supply; promote modernisation of existing infrastructures wherever necessary and diversification of energy routes and sources, including a Southern Corridor to Europe.
It aims to achieve enhanced global energy security and work towards increasing energy efficiency and study expansion of the Energy Star agreement.
The council will also promote strengthened power grids to facilitate deployment of renewable and low carbon sources of energy, promote security of transit and key energy infrastructures that could improve energy security at a regional and global level and continue to deepen ongoing joint work on new and renewable technologies.
It will reinforce cooperation in new areas, in particular on smart grids, energy efficient building technologies and new materials for energy applications.
The Energy Council will deepen collaboration on nuclear energy, both fusion and fission on safety, geological waste disposal and plant lifetime management, support sustainable development of bio-fuels and biomass and cooperate to develop and demonstrate technologies for carbon capture and storage.
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