Government
representatives attending the two-day Clean Energy Ministerial
meeting in Washington DC have promised action on over ten
initiatives aimed at promoting energy efficiency and clean
energy.

The 24 countries, including the EU, the US, Canada, China,
Japan, South Korea, India and Russia, taking part in the meeting
account for around 80% of global energy consumption.

The United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia and 20
other countries participating in the Ministerial will work
collaboratively on the projects, which include deploying electric
vehicles, smart grids, solar-powered lanterns and efficient
household appliances, said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who
hosted the summit

The initiatives pledge to improve the energy efficiency of
appliances and buildings and speed up the deployment of smart grid
technology, electric vehicles and renewable energy in the
developing world.

Initially, the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance
Deployment (SEAD) initiative will focus incentives and enforcing
tighter standards for lighting and TVs, which make up around 15% of
household energy use.

A group of eight companies, including Wal-Mart, 3M, Marriott
International, Dow Chemical and Nissan, along with Massachusetts
Institute of Technology will pilot a Global Superior Energy
Performance (GSEP) partnership to create efficiency standards for
buildings and industrial facilities.

Meanwhile, the UK - led by Secretary of State for Energy and
Climate Change, Chris Huhne - and Australia have promised to work
together to advance carbon capture and storage technology. A set of
recommendations for accelerating its use will be presented at the
next ministerial meeting in 2011 in the United Arab Emirates.

The US, India and Italy, which has just committed $10 million to
the project, will cooperate to bring solar projects to developing
nations.

Ultimately, the initiatives will aim to eliminate the need to
build more than 500 mid-sized power plants over the next 20
years.

“The Clean Energy Ministerial has brought together leaders from
around the world to take unprecedented actions to deploy clean
energy technologies - from energy efficiency to renewable energy to
smart grids to carbon capture,” said Energy Secretary Chu.