DOE and China Agree to Conduct Industrial Energy Assessments
September 14, 2007
This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) of the People's Republic of China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at increasing cooperation on industrial energy efficiency.
Signed by Karen Harbert, DOE's Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, and Chen Deming, Vice Chairman of the NDRC, the MOU follows discussions this week at the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue. At this dialogue, the United States and China agreed to conduct assessments to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency in industry.
China's industrial sector accounts for 70% of the country's total energy demand.
The MOU also confirms the intentions of the United States and China to promote energy efficiency that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A DOE team of industrial energy efficiency experts, including representatives from the NDRC, will conduct on-site plant audits of the production process and plant energy systems at up to twelve facilities from "The Top 1000" energy enterprises in China. DOE will provide tools to conduct the plant audits and train factory personnel on plant audit techniques.
These facilities must have the resources and feasibility to implement energy efficient improvements identified by the DOE and NDRC teams. DOE will subsequently conduct a comparison study of these Chinese enterprises and U.S. manufacturing plants to identify differences in best practices. The MOU could also serve as a conduit for American companies to export U.S.-made clean energy equipment and services to China.
