Delegates from 24 countries met last week in Washington DC for a two-day conference discussing clean energy initiatives to help fight climate change.
The attending countries represent 80 percent of global energy consumption, including representatives from the European Commission, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and others nations.
The countries promised eleven initiatives that would improve energy efficiency in appliances and buildings, mean building fewer power plants, stronger utilisation of clean and renewable energy, develop infrastructure and regulations for electric vehicles, investing in smart-grid technology and aiding developing nations in utilising renewable energy.
According to US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, the initiatives that came out of the conference will amount to energy savings equivalent to the output of around 500 medium-sized power plants in the next two decades. Chu reportedly commented that the conference is about taking concrete action, rather than political positioning.
Initiatives include a plan to create efficiency standards for buildings and industrial facilities, backed by eight major companies, including Marriott International, Nissan Motor Co, Target Corp, and Wal-Mart Stores.
Another group led by the British and Australian governments will be working on advance carbon capture and storage (CSS) which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some nations made a pact to collaborate on supplying developing countries with alternative power systems including off-grid solar projects – this project is expected to help power the homes of ten million people by the year 2015.
The next conference meeting will be held in the United Arab Emirates in 2011.
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