Energy ministers tout green power, cost-cutting efficiency

Jul 20, 2010, 23:58 GMT

Washington - Energy ministers from the world's biggest polluters on Tuesday touted the cost-cutting benefits of clean energy as they pledged closer cooperation on boosting renewable alternatives and improving energy efficiency.

At a two-day gathering in Washington, officials from more than 20 countries - making up about 80 per cent of global economic output and 70 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions - unveiled a series of new programmes to speed the transition to greener sources of energy.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said all countries had much further to go in enhancing infrastructure, vehicles, utilities and appliances, which could save dramatically on energy use.

'The moral of the story is a lot of things that we are not yet doing today can actually save money,' Chu said at the opening of a second day of meetings. 'All these things can transform the way we use and save energy.'

Chu said the 11 different initiatives announced during the conference, which ended Tuesday, could eliminate the need for more than 500 power plants across the globe in the next 20 years.

Initiatives included incentives for electric cars, improving electricity grids and joint ventures with the private sector to manufacture greener home appliances. Germany, Spain and Denmark offered to share their expertise on using wind and solar energy.

But the measures also included ramped up cooperation on controversial technologies such as carbon-capture and storage - 'clean coal.' Britain and Australia will lead that initiative, which some environmentalists have argued is unproven and merely a ruse to continue production of the dirty fossil fuel.

World governments remain deadlocked over a new global accord to cut greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming. The Washington gathering focused specifically on renewable energy, a topic on which there is more agreement than the broader struggle to tackle climate change.