U.S. Will Help Chinese Industry Boost Energy Efficiency
SAN FRANCISCO, California, September 14, 2007 (ENS) - Energy officials from the United States and China Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, to increase cooperation and energy efficiency in China's industrial sector, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's total energy demand.
Karen Harbert, U.S. Department of Energy, DOE, assistant secretary for policy and international affairs and Chen Deming, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Committee signed the agreement at a meeting in San Francisco.
This MOU follows discussions this week at the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue where the agreed to jointly conduct audits to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency. Teams from each country, working together, will do audits at up to 12 facilities from 'The Top 1000” energy enterprises in China.
'This agreement signifies the importance of our strategic energy and economic cooperation with China,” Harbert said. 'As global energy use continues to rapidly increase, the U.S. is working to identify ways to increase industrial energy efficiency both domestically and across the globe.
Harbert said the MOU can serve as a conduit for American companies to export environmentally superior U.S.-made equipment and services to China.
'Our U.S. industry has significant expertise and products that can improve energy efficiency in China,' she said.
The MOU signifies the intention of the two governments to promote energy efficiency at energy-intensive factories that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the two officials said.
The DOE will provide tools to conduct the plant audits and train factory personnel on plant auditing techniques.
DOE will then conduct a comparison study of these Chinese enterprises and U.S. manufacturing plants to identify differences in best practices.
DOE intends to host training sessions in the United States for Chinese officials to familiarize energy-saving management personnel with U.S. energy saving laws, policies, advanced energy saving procedures and technologies and best practices. Demonstrations of efficient U.S.-made boilers, fired heaters and combined heat and power units will be part of the training.
The signing of this MOU follows cooperation through a number of bilateral and multilateral partnerships aimed at increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing barriers to private investment in clean energy technologies.
These partnerships include the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, the U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
The DOE already does similar energy audits at home, working with U.S. businesses through a program called Save Energy Now Assessments to assess energy use and devise strategies for savings.
Since 2006, DOE officials say the agency has conducted 344 industrial energy assessments, identifying potential energy cost savings of more than $585 million and 60 trillion btu per year. The DOE said that when fully implemented, the greenhouse gas emissions savings from these improvements would be equivalent to removing nearly 850,000 vehicles from the road each year.
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