DOE Partners with the Sister Cities International to Honor Clean Energy Partnerships

August 07, 2009

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Brookhaven National Laboratory partnered with the Sister Cities International (SCI), a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between U.S. and international communities to honor international city-to-city partnerships on clean energy. This partnership was announced at the annual SCI conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 31, 2009.

DOE instituted the Annual Energy Awards at SCI to promote collaborative projects between U.S. cities and their sister cities—a network spanning more than 700 U.S. communities working with more than 2,000 sister cities in 134 countries on six continents to share best practices and technologies.

The 2009 Energy Awards were given to three exceptional collaborations, including Chicago, Illinois, and Shanghai, China for their Geothermal and Fuel Cell Energy demonstration project; Boulder, Colorado, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan for constructing a cyber café with solar electric and hot water systems; and Duluth, Minnesota, and Växjö, Sweden's biofuel technology exchange.

Cities are at the forefront of taking innovative initiatives that work. The DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) promotes Energy Awards to recognize the achievements of the cities and leaders who have championed partnerships on how to conserve energy and invest in clean technology. EERE has established an innovative United States-China-India Eco Cities Partnership to share technologies and lessons learned and to help participating cities identify and overcome barriers for implementation and management of sustainable urban energy practices.

The project has adopted a systematic approach, pairing U.S. cities with Chinese and Indian cities based on the Sister Cities concept. Collaboration on energy is added to existing relationships between city governments, businesses, academic/research institutions, and citizens in order to identify and enact projects of mutual interests.

To find information on how to apply for the 2010 Energy Awards or learn more about the winners of 2009, see Sister Cities International's Annual Awards Program page.