No.9, 6 February 2003

2. Nuclear fusion and the longer-term agenda.

3. Optimising automotive R&D in Europe - IEA joins FURORE think-tank.

4. Claude Mandil takes up his post as IEA's new Executive Director.

5. Upcoming Events

• Enhancing Demand Response in Liberalised Electricity Markets - IEA Workshop - IEA Headquarters, Paris, 24-25 February 2003.
• Promoting International Collaboration on Energy Efficient Bioprocesses, Bioproducts and the BioBased Economy (BBE) - IEA Workshop, Ottawa (Canada), 3-6 March 2003.
• Natural Gas Conference on Security of Gas - Supply and Investment, Moscow (Russia), 13-14 March 2003.
• IEA Conference on Science and Energy Technology, Moscow (Russia), 1-2 April 2003.
• Photovoltaic Power Systems in the Past, Present and Future - IEA PVPS International Conference 2003 - 10th Anniversary of PVPS - Osaka (Japan), 19-20 May 2003.
• Towards Sustainable Transportation - 20th Anniversary Windsor Workshop - Toronto, Ontario (Canada), 2-5 June 2003.
• Coal - contributing to sustainable world development - 12th International Conference on Coal Science - Cairns, Queensland (Australia), 2- 6 November, 2003.

6. Publications and websites:

Creating markets for energy technologies -- Environmental impacts in the pulp and paper industry -- Energy policies in Germany -- Experience curves and policy-making.

7. Awards

IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme's Solar Award

1. Algeria joins IEA Programme on Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems (SolarPACES). Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mining, and former OPEC President, Chakib Khelil, visited IEA Headquarters in Paris on 13 January for the signing ceremony. This formalised the accession of Algeria's entity, New Energy Algeria, to the IEA's SolarPACES Implementing Agreement programme. See IEA press release: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?year=2003&keyword=%25&Submit=Submit&PRESS_REL_ID=81 .
Algeria is the second OPEC member to join an IEA Implementing Agreement programme, and the first to join one of these programmes dealing with a renewable energy source. Created in 1977, the IEA's SolarPACES programme focuses on concentrating solar power technology using troughs, towers and dishes. It is one of some forty that conduct research and development within the IEA's framework for collaborative energy technology R&D.
For more about SolarPACES: http://www.solarpaces.org/.
For more about the collaborative framework:http://www.iea.org/Textbase/techno/iaresults.asp?id_ia=37.

• Enhancing Demand Response in Liberalised Electricity Markets - IEA Workshop, IEA Headquarters, Paris, 24-25 February 2003. Curbing greenhouse gas emissions by showing customers real price signals was one of the promised benefits of electricity market reform. But even in liberalised electricity markets, many customers receive fixed tariffs regardless of wholesale prices and system conditions. How can market forces, policy and technology work together to ensure that power consumers have the means to use electricity efficiently? This workshop for specialists, policy analysts/advisors and industrial practitioners will address these and other related questions.
  For the draft programme:http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/2003/elecmrkt/Final%20Program.pdf.
  
  
  
  
• Promoting International Collaboration on Energy Efficient Bioprocesses, Bioproducts and the BioBased Economy (BBE) - IEA Workshop, Ottawa (Canada), 3-6 March 2003. The "bio" option is increasingly present in today's world. Developing and perfecting bioprocesses and bioproducts is more cost-effective if the R&D effort is undertaken by international teams. Taking an international perspective, this event will provide a wide-ranging up-date on the role of bioprocesses and bioproducts, both today and tomorrow. It is sponsored by the IEA's Working Party on End-Use Technologies.
  For a draft agenda: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?WS_ID=93.
  
  
  
  
• Natural Gas Conference on Security of Gas Supply and Investment, Moscow (Russia), 13-14 March 2003. Organised by IEA with the Russian Ministry of Energy and OAO Gazprom, this conference will address the changing structure of natural gas supply and demand worldwide, and the implications for security of supply, investment and technology. By invitation only, it is planned for high-ranking gas company executives, representatives from governments and international bodies, regulatory authorities and the banking community.
  
  
  
• IEA Conference on Science and Energy Technology, Moscow (Russia), 1-2 April 2003. Hosted by the Russian Academy of Sciences and co-organised by the IEA, this event will focus on the relationship between basic science and the development of clean energy technologies. It will explore how energy technology research programmes can better reflect progress in basic science in the pursuit of a sustainable energy future.
  See : http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?WS_ID=95.
  
  
  
  
• Photovoltaic Power Systems in the Past, Present and Future - IEA PVPS International Conference 2003 - 10th Anniversary of PVPS - Osaka (Japan), 19-20 May 2003. As well as reviewing the IEA PVPS programme's achievements over the past ten years, this event will focus on the programme's future missions, the role of policy measures in relation to photovoltaics around the world, also some visions of the future for PV industries.
  For the conference announcement and access to the PVPS website: http://www.iea-pvps.org/.
  For direct access to the Conference pages: http://www.iea-pvps.org/products/index.htm.
  
  
  
• Towards Sustainable Transportation - 20th Anniversary Windsor Workshop - Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2-5 June 2003. Co-sponsored by the IEA, this event will enable international experts from the public and private sectors to compare experience, share information and consider future developments in all aspects of transport: research, policy, fuel supply and vehicle manufacturing.
  Invitation letter: http://www.iea.org/impagr/cip/pdf/coverletter.pdf.
  Call for papers: http://www.iea.org/impagr/cip/pdf/noticeforabstracts.pdf.
  Brochure: http://www.iea.org/impagr/cip/pdf/postcard.pdf.
  Abstracts submission: http://www.iea.org/impagr/cip/pdf/submissionform.pdf.
  
  
  
• Coal - Contributing to Sustainable World Development - 12th International Conference on Coal Science, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 2- 6 November, 2003. Organised jointly by the IEA, the IEA Clean Coal Centre and the hosts, the Australian Institute of Energy, this event will offer a broad technical program of plenary lectures and oral and poster presentations on advances in coal science. Also on the agenda are tours of major export, mining, and research facilities in Queensland and Southern Australia. For more information: http://www.aie.org.au/iccs/.

• Creating Markets for Energy Technologies. How successful are government policies to promote use of the clean energy technologies we need for a sustainable energy future? It is performance and cost that will earn these technologies a durable place in the market. But market forces alone do not always suffice, and governments act in multiple ways to promote use of clean technologies. To identify the success factors in such government action, this IEA publication examines 22 case studies on effective government support programmes, representing a total investment of more than €20 billion. To learn more and to order: http://www.iea.org/bookshop/add.aspx?id=57.
  
  
  
• Assessment of Life-Cycle-Wide Energy-Related Environmental Impacts in the Pulp and Paper Industry. Many of the environmental impacts from pulp and paper production stem from use of energy, also a major generator of operating costs. An important tool for optimising energy use is benchmarking of energy consumption. To minimise work on both Life-Cycle-Analysis studies and energy reporting for benchmarking purposes, the method for calculating Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) should both establish an internationally acceptable method by which paper mills can compare energy consumption, and form a basis for assessing the environmental impact from energy use for paper production.
  Contacts: Geir Sollesnes, Kjelforeningen Norsk Energi - geir.sollesnes@energi.no; Goran Svensson, Miljokompetens, Sweden - miljokompetens@swipnet.se.
  See also website of the IEA Implementing Agreement on Advanced Energy-Efficient Technologies for the Pulp and Paper Industry: http://www.ieapap.com/.
  
  
  
• Energy Policies of IEA Countries - Germany 2002 Review. The most recent IEA peer review of energy policies in a Member country.
  To learn more and to order: http://www.iea.org/bookshop/add.aspx?id=54.
  
  
  
• Experience Curves: A Tool for Energy Policy Analysis and Design. Papers from the Workshop at IEA Headquarters in Paris on 22-24 January 2003 are now available on the IEA website at: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?WS_ID=89. The workshop was organised jointly by the EU project "Experience curve: a tool for energy policy programmes assessment" (EXTOOL) and the international network on Experience Curves for Energy Technology Policy (EXCETP). Sixth in the series since creation of EXCETP, the workshop's objective was to assess progress with experience curves analysis to date and chart the course for future work. Twenty papers were presented to an audience of 80 participants from 17 countries.