23 November 2011
Clean Energy Ministerial Update Discusses Bioenergy, CCS, Efficiency, Smart Grids, Vehicles, Energy Access and Women in Clean Energy
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The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Secretariat released a fall 2011 Update, including a message from Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, news on the CEM Secretariat's engagement with private stakeholders through partnerships and dialogue, and updates on specific CEM initiatives.

Clean Energy Ministerial16 November 2011: The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Secretariat has released its Fall 2011 Update, which includes a message from Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, news on the CEM Secretariat’s engagement with private stakeholders through partnerships and dialogue, and progress within specific CEM initiatives. The initiatives highlighted include: Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD); Bioenergy; Buildings and Industry (GSEP); Carbon Capture; Clean Energy Policy; Electric Vehicles; Energy Access; Smart Grid; Solar and Wind; and Women in Clean Energy.

In his message, Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, underscores that the need for rapid and large-scale investment in clean and low-carbon energy technologies has never been greater, yet real challenges exist around leveraging public and private-sector finance flows to scale up development and deployment.

Four Working Groups (WG) within the the Super-Efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) featured their work. The Standards and Labeling WG launched international standards and labeling collaborations for commercial refrigeration, computers, distribution transformers, motors, televisions, and network standby modes, and is looking to start a sixth collaboration on solid-state lighting. The Awards WG started work on the 2012 SEAD Global Efficiency Awards for Televisions. The Procurement WG published the SEAD Street Lighting Evaluation Toolkit. The Technical Analysis WG analyzed feasible and cost-effective efficiency improvements for televisions.

The Bioenergy Working Group identified six centers of excellence in bioenergy that address four research areas covering all chains of production and use of bioenergy, namely: ethanol research; electric energy cogeneration using biomass; biodiesel research; and planning, studies and analysis. The six centers are: Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE); CENPES – Petrobras Research Center; CENBIO – National Biomass Reference Center; CTC – Sugarcane Technology Center; Embrapa Agroenergy; and FGV – Agro (Getulio Vargas Foundation – Agro Division).

Under the Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership (GSEP) (buildings and industry), the six Working Groups met to define their strategic objective and define their work plans. The six Working Groups are: Certification; Power; Steel; Cement; Cool Roofs and Pavements; Combined Heat and Power (CHP); and Efficient District Heating and Cooling (DHC).

The Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) Action Group agreed on an implementation plan to ensure that its members make significant progress toward achieving the group’s recommendations by the third Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM3). The recommendations address key areas to accelerate the commercial deployment of carbon capture, use, and storage, including financing, regulation, knowledge sharing, and storage.

The Clean Energy Solutions Center website, among others: expanded its geographic reach by launching country-specific dialogues and assistance resources, including webinars focusing on policy best practices for industrial efficiency in India and financial and policy innovations to support energy efficiency; expanded its clean energy information through collaborations with the International Energy Agency (IEA), REN21 and others to integrate various databases to develop website content; improved connections between users and the training and expertise they need; and enhanced communication.

The Electric Vehicles Initiative convened its First Electric Vehicles Pilot Cities Forum, which India also participated in.

The International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) Implementing Agreement under the IEA held the inaugural meeting of its Executive Committee, adopting four foundational projects meant to capture, assess and synthesize the growing smart grid knowledge base and develop core methodologies. ISGAN also held project workshops in Austria in May 2011, the Republic of Korea in June 2011, and the Netherlands in October 2011.

The Multilateral Working Group on Solar and Wind Energy began work on four core projects and and one new project (CABIN) to create an online capacity-building network. The four core pilot projects are: an online global solar and wind atlas; web-based, platform-gathering, capacity-building opportunities in the wind and solar energy sectors; capacity needs assessments in the wind and solar energy sectors; and pilot train-the-trainer programs for wind and solar energy technologies.

The Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) women’s initiative convened a public forum on “The Role of Women in the Clean Energy Revolution” featuring remarks by the three female ministers: Lykke Friis of Denmark, Dipuo Peters of South Africa, and Maud Olofsson of Sweden. [CEM 2011 Update] [Clean Energy Solutions Center] [SEAD] [Bioenergy] [GSEP] [Carbon Capture] [Clean Energy Policy] [Electric Vehicles] [Energy Access] [Smart Grid] [Solar and Wind] [Women in Clean Energy] [SEAD Street Lighting Evaluation Toolkit]