International Collaboration for a Low-Carbon World

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The answers to the energy question run on two closely-linked paths.  On the one hand they are tied to research and the ways by which innovation manages to find a place in the market, on the other hand they require a range of action that isn’t limited to national borders, but which should necessarily rely upon international collaboration.
“Bilateral cooperation between Italy and the United States is enriched by joint projects and certainly with the Obama administration, there are not only new prospects for the development of technologies to reduce carbon levels, to combat climate change, but also for a greater diversification of energy sources and of energy technologies in the domestic market of the United States and in global markets.”
With these words Corrado Clini, Director General of the Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection, opened the international workshop Leading Low-Carbon Technology in Italy and the United States: Moving Research from the Laboratory to the Market, which on May 26 in Rome gathered the experiences of Italian and American researchers and entrepreneurs in innovation and low-carbon energy markets.

The international negotiations that will be conducted at the climate meeting in Copenhagen – continued Clini – will accelerate movement along these paths to promote and disseminate low-carbon technology in the developed economies and, at the same time, to ensure that the diffusion and dissemination of these technologies also occur in developing countries and emerging economies. From this perspective, efforts to facilitate an international dialogue that can combine the subjects of climate change and technological innovation will be crucial.
“I would like to mention – continued Clini – an example of technological innovation that was cited in a recent presentation by Obama Administration Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, which illustrates the technological options that can be developed to increase energy efficiency in the housing sector.  Secretary Chu highlighted the SIEEB (Chinese-Italian Eco-Efficient Building), which was constructed by the University of Tsinghua in Beijing as the result of collaboration between Italy and China.”

Sino-italian-eco-efficient-building

 Sino Italian Eco–Efficient Building, Tsinghua University – Pechino

 

It is an example of how the possibilities for reducing carbon levels in our economies and our way of life have grown, and of how these possibilities are closely tied to international collaboration.
Other concrete examples from the workshop came from the first-hand testimony of researchers and entrepreneurs in specific sectors, for example, bioenergy, which is at the center of an international project called the Global Bioenergy Partnership, whose objective is to promote innovative and market-competitive use of energy derived from organic sources.

Research and innovation are essential and indispensible elements for growth in a sector like transportation, which in recent years has been the focus of intense attention on the part of emissions-reduction markets and strategies; this is an urgent subject at a time in which attention is growing toward guidelines for consumption and emissions standards for automobiles.

And if innovative industrial experiences are beginning to open a way for photovoltaic technology to use other substances in place of silicon, the discussions regarding Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are among the most dynamic and make it one of the research sectors receiving the most attention at present, because the ability to continue to produce energy using coal, the most widespread fossil fuel source on the planet, without an increase of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, depends on its success.
Bioenergy, transportation, photovoltaic technology and CCS were at the center of a day of discussions that brought to the forefront the experiences of businesses and research centers, and which provide concrete examples of bilateral relations between Italy and the USA in the study and application of innovative technology for the production of clean energy.
“Experimental technologies already exist that can give positive responses in the medium term, others – concluded Corrado Clini – still need to be improved, as in the case of carbon capture and storage, second generation biofuels or renewable sources based prevalently on nanotechnology or the use of new materials for solar energy; we know that, while on one hand, in the next few years we should provide incentives for currently-available technology, on the other hand we shouldn’t forget research in innovation that in the coming decades should supply a decisive answer to the energy question that today we don’t have.”

The workshop “Leading Low-Carbon Technology in Italy and the United States: Moving Research from the Laboratory to the Market” was organized by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection, the Embassy of the United States of America in Italy, the Foreign Trade Institute and the Euro-Mediterranean Climate Change Center.  It was held under the auspices of U.S.-Italy bilateral cooperation for the promotion of research and new technology to combat climate change, and of the Partnership for Growth, an initiative of the U.S. Embassy to promote innovation-led economic growth in Italy.

 

 

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