1. Energy investment, climate policy and the recession
2. Gadgets and gigawatts
3. Harnessing energy from the oceans
4. Drivers for grid-connected photovoltaics
5. New IEA international projects, new participants

• International Conference on Thermal Energy Storage - EffStock 2009, Stockholm (Sweden), 14-17 June 2009.

• Web Conference on CCS Public Engagement and Consultation - Lessons Learned, Paris (France), 15 June 2009.

• Electricity Markets 2050 - Annual Eurelectric Convention and Conference, Bucharest (Romania), 15-16 June 2009.

• IEA Bioenergy Multi-Tasks Conference - Biofuels & Bioenergy: A Changing Climate,  Vancouver (Canada), 23-26 August 2009.

• District Heating Futures Seminar/Workshop, Tuusula (Finland), 31 August - 2 September 2009.

• International Workshop on Impact, Compliance and Control of Energy Legislations, Brussels (Belgium), 1-2 September 2009.

• 1st International Oxyfuel Combustion Conference, Cottbus (Germany), 8-11 September 2009.

• 15th International SolarPACES Symposium, Berlin (Germany), 15-18 September 2009.

• 30th Annual Symposium and Workshop of the International Energy Agency Collaborative Project on Enhanced Oil Recovery (IEA EOR), Canberra (Australia), 21-23 September 2009.

• 30th AIVC Conference Trends in High Performance Buildings and the Role of Ventilation, Berlin (Germany), 1-2 October 2009.

• International Conference on Coal Science & Technology (ICCS&T), Cape Town (South Africa), 26-29 October 2009.

• Workshop on Process Integration in Small and Medium Enterprises, Bern (Switzerland), 27-28 October 2009. 

• 18th World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Essen (Germany), 16-21 May 2010.

• 10th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, Amsterdam (the Netherlands), 19-23 September 2010.

• 8th International Conference on System Simulation in Buildings, Liege (Belgium), 13-15 December, 2010.

1. Energy investment, climate policy and the recession. Dwindling capital availability, falling energy consumption, cuts in corporate spending – all this is bad news for energy-sector investment. Will governments’ economic stimulus packages do enough to boost development and deployment of the energy-efficient, low-carbon technology needed to curb climate change?  How – and at what cost – can national policies and capital-spending strategies ensure that technologies, infrastructure and energy-use patterns foster both energy security and sustainable development?  These questions were high on the agenda at the 24-25 May gathering of G8 energy ministers in Rome (Italy). As part of its mandate to advise G8 leaders on energy policy, the IEA provided important background material. The IEA’s 38-page paper Climate Policy for Energy Ministers highlights the importance of vigorous support for energy efficiency and decarbonisation of energy supply. It presents a tool-kit for shaping appropriate least-cost policies and measures. The downturn’s current and projected effects on the energy sector are presented concisely in the Executive Summary of IEA’s paper The Impact of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Global Energy Investment, which puts forward clear-cut suggestions for remedial government action.

Because unprecedented levels of infrastructure investment are needed to meet tomorrow’s energy demand in a carbon-constrained world, and because much of the required capital stock has a long lifetime, short-sighted technology investment decisions are a poor option. In an uncertain investment climate, what specific steps can governments and climate negotiators take to ease the transition to cost-effective, clean technology? “Project Transitions” is a new multi-stakeholder IEA initiative working to gain crucial fresh insight on factors driving investment choices and to identify policy approaches that can optimise decision-taking. Richard Bradley heads the IEA team spearheading this project. Dr. Bradley's article “Understanding the Clean Energy Investment Challenges” tells more about the aims of Project Transitions and how it will operate. Download the article here.

2. Gadgets and Gigawatts – Policies for Energy Efficient Electronics. Many success stories have emerged from government programmes to make large household appliances more energy efficient. But the impact of the energy saved is in serious danger of erosion by wider ownership of the smaller electronic equipment now part of people’s way of life. Electricity consumption of increasingly affordable items like digital flat-screen TVs, monitors, computers, printers or set-top boxes could well double by 2022, and even triple by 2030, further undermining energy security, economic growth and protection of the global climate. The newly published IEA study Gadgets and Gigawatts - Policies for Energy Efficient Electronics provides a timely round-up of power consumption trends among residential appliances, along with guidance on exploiting available technology to raise the energy-efficiency profile of what have become the most globally traded pieces of household equipment. Best-practice policy approaches are discussed and the IEA’s specialists offer clear-cut recommendations for ensuring that digital also means energy-efficient. To find out more about the issues, the OPEN Bulletin put three questions to Paul Waide of the IEA’s energy-efficiency team. Access his answers here. Visit the IEA Online Bookshop.

3. Harnessing energy from the oceans. A number of countries are developing increasingly resourceful technologies to generate power from ocean waves, tides, currents and salinity. Tidal barrage plants are operating commercially and other ocean energy technologies like the high-potential devices for capturing wave energy are now in pre-commercial phase. A valuable overview of innovation and advances over the wide spectrum of ocean energy conversion technologies can be found in the 83-page downloadable report Ocean Energy:  Global Technology Development Status. Newly released by the IEA Ocean Energy Systems Implementing Agreement (IEA-OES), it follows two other recent IEA-OES publications, which deal with integrating marine energy into electricity systems:
- Key Features and Identification of Needed Improvements to Existing Interconnection Guidelines for Facilitating Integration of Ocean Energy Pilot Projects;
- Potential Opportunities and Differences Associated with Integration of Ocean Wave and Marine Current Energy Plants in Comparison to Wind Energy.
An overview of available wave data for assessing and characterising the wave energy resource can be found in the downloadable Wave Data Catalogue.  IEA-OES is one of 42 IEA international energy technology collaborations.

4. Promoting grid-connected photovoltaics.  Widespread promotion policies and marketing programmes have proved their worth in expanding deployment of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. What sort of deployment programmes are the most effective?  What subsidy schemes are most likely to ensure a least-cost transition to the supply and demand conditions of a mature market?  Answers to these and many other questions about the most successful paths to a self-sustainable PV market are presented in the 61-page downloadable report Promotional Drivers for Grid-Connected PV. Recently released by the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS), this latest contribution to the body of knowledge on PV deployment strategies reviews past and current programmes around the globe and evaluates their success from both supply and demand perspectives. The authors distil pointers for building successful programmes and they present a series of recommendations for policy makers. IEA PVPS is an IEA international energy technology collaboration.

5. New IEA international projects, new participants. The portfolios of IEA Implementing Agreement programmes evolve continuously to meet new challenges. Some new initiatives:

• A new project on Algae as Feedstock for Biofuels has been launched under Annex XXXIV on Biomass-Derived Diesel Fuels within the IEA Implementing Agreement on Advanced Motor Fuels (IEA-AMF).  Its objective is to inventory and assess the important R&D activities in the area of algal fuels and to make recommendations about the most promising pathways to success in making large quantities of transportation fuels from algae. Visit the IEA-AMF website.

• Standby power consumption of electrical appliances is the focus of a new project within the IEA Implementing Agreement on Efficient Electrical End-Use Equipment (4E).  Its goal is to monitor and report the extent of – and changes in – energy consumption by electrical appliances in low-power modes (standby power), and to support development of policies seeking to minimise excessive energy consumption by products in standby power modes. Visit the IEA 4E website.

• A new project on Hydropower and the Environment has been launched within the IEA Hydropower Implementing Agreement. This Annex XII will work on the carbon balance in freshwater reservoirs and on updating previously established recommendations on environmental and social aspects of hydropower. Visit the website.

New participants in IEA collaborative programmes.

• The Government of Ireland has become a Contracting Party to the Implementing Agreement for a Programme of Energy Technology Systems Analysis (ETSAP).
• The Government of Australia has become a Contracting Party to the Implementing Agreement for Climate Technology Initiative (CTI).
• The Government of Australia has become a Contracting Party to the Implementing Agreement for a Programme of Research and Demonstration on Advanced Motor Fuels (IEA-AMF).

• Biofuels today and tomorrow. Two reports downloadable from the website of the IEA Advanced Motor Fuels programme (IEA-AMF) deal with the existing and potential roles of biofuels in the fuel mix. Biomass-Derived Diesel Fuels reviews the status of today's biodiesel fuels as substitutes for conventional diesel fuels and discusses the future contribution of next-generation biodiesel and biorefinery concepts. This 150-page publication is the final report from Subtask 1 of IEA-AMF Annex XXXIV. 
The 87-page study Ethanol as a Fuel for Road Transportation looks at the the technical potential of bioethanol as a motor fuel and at associated challenges.  It also discusses more general issues related to widespread application of bioethanol as an energy carrier.  This report is a contribution to the work of IEA-AMF's Annex XXXV. IEA-AMF is an IEA international collaboration. 

• Funding for H₂ system development and demonstration.  Findings of a survey to identify what works best to encourage development and demonstration of hydrogen systems can be found in the downloadable report Survey of Support Mechanisms for the Development and Demonstration of Hydrogen Systems.  Prepared for Annex 18 of the IEA Hydrogen Implementing Agreement (IEA HIA), this report highlights mechanisms likely to achieve both long-term growth in hydrogen systems and advantageous cost per kW of hydrogen system installed.   Visit the IEA HIA website.

• Free downloadable energy technology newsletters from IEA's international collaborative programmes.

- AMFI Newsletter - Issue 2/2009, April – from the IEA Advanced Motor Fuels Implementing Agreement (IEA-AMF). 
- ECBCS News – No 49, June 2009 – from the IEA Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme (ECBCS).
- EMSA Newsletter – No. 2, April 2009 – from the Electric Motor Systems Annex of the IEA Implementing Agreement on Efficient Electrical End-Use Equipment (4E). This issue is also available in a Chinese version (中文版).
- IA-HEV Newsletter – No. 2009-1, May – from the IEA Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Implementing Agreement  (IA-HEV).
- Solar Update – Vol. 50, April 2009 - from the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC).

• The 2009 edition of Solar Heat Worldwide - Markets and Contribution to the Energy Supply 2007 is now downloadable from the website of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC). This latest annual survey documents solar thermal capacity installed in the important markets worldwide and assesses the contribution of solar plants to the supply of energy and avoided CO₂ emissions.

• Energy-efficient buildings:  for collected downloadable publications, consult the special pages “For Researchers and Practitioners” on the website of the IEA Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme (ECBCS).
• Presentations from IEA Workshop Towards Zero Energy Buildings in OECD Countries, 1-2 April 2009.  Organised by the IEA Working Party on End-Use Technologies and the IEA Energy Efficiency Working Party, this workshop updated on technology and policies for this important component in the energy efficiency drive.  Visit the IEA website. 

• Presentations and workshop summary from the Strategy Meeting of the IEA Experts Group for Science and Energy (EGSE), Paris, 4-5 May 2009. Bringing together participants from the science and energy communities, this meeting confirmed EGSE priority activities and highlighted areas of focus for accelerating scientific breakthroughs in pursuit of worldwide energy goals. Visit the IEA website. 

• Annual reports from IEA collaborative programmes: IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme Annual Report 2008; IEA IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme 2008 Annual Report.

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