1. Angola: Towards an Energy Strategy
2. Bio/fossil co-firing: status and benefits
3. Environmental credentials of traded energy-efficient goods
4. Reducing standby power use in China
5. IEA's new collaboration on electricity networks

. Trends in PV applications
. Technology newsletters: Advanced motor fuels; Hybrid/electric vehicles; Ocean energy systems
. Renewables - a new global fact sheet
. Heat pumps - a multilingual welcome
. Energy Technology Perspectives - free multilingual downloadable summary

. Pulp/paper industry energy efficiency
. Cement industry energy efficiency
. Co-generation's prospects
. Cooling urban heat islands
. CO₂ capture & storage near-term
. Legal aspects of storing CO₂
. Energy policies of Ukraine

. International Seminar on Energy and the Forest Products Industry, Rome (Italy), 30-31 October 2006.

. IEA/CIAB Workshop Coal-to-Liquids - an alternative oil supply?, IEA Headquarters, Paris (France), 2 November 2006.

. Standby Power Conference Time for Global Action, Canberra (Australia), 6-7 November 2006.

. Steel Committee (OECD/IEA/IISI): Climate Change Policy and Steel - Paris (France), 7-8 November 2006.

. International Workshop on Solar Photovoltaic Electricity A Wealth of Investment Opportunities Under the Sun - Zurich (Switzerland), 14 November 2006.

. 27th Annual Conference of the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), Lyon (France), 20-22 November 2006.

. Workshop Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Meeting the G8 Gleneagles Challenge, Paris (France), 27-28 November 2006.

. Third International Conference on Clean Coal Technologies for our Future, Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy), 15-17 May 2007.

. IEA/CSLF Assessment Workshop on Near-Term Opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage, Oslo (Norway), 21-22 June 2007.

. Conference Building Low Energy Cooling and Advanced Ventilation Technologies in the 21st Century, Aghia Pelaghia, Crete (Greece), 27-29 September 2007.

. Clean Vehicle Awards from IEA programme go to Ford, Honda, Lexus, The People's Republic of China, Hans Tholstrup of Australia.

. IEA's Fatih Birol named by France a "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques".

1. Angola: Towards an Energy Strategy. In the aftermath of nearly three decades of civil war, Angola is struggling to re-build its economy. Energy resources are plentiful but infrastructure has suffered widespread damage and destruction. How can Angola provide its people and its economy with the modern, sustainable energy services they so badly need? IEA's recently published study Angola: Towards an Energy Strategy identifies the priorities and offers a matrix of recommendations for the re-construction effort in Angola's energy sector. It presents the findings of an IEA survey conducted in 2005 at the request of Angola's government. Dr. Ann Eggington led the team of experts who visited Angola. The OPEN Bulletin questioned Dr. Eggington about technology's potential role in bringing Angola closer to a sustainable energy future. Click to access the interview. For more about the study Angola: Towards an Energy Strategy, visit IEA's website. IEA's publications are offered at half price to readers in developing countries.

2. Bio/fossil co-firing - status and benefits. If biomass displaced 5% of coal burned in all the world's coal-fired power plants, annual CO₂ emissions would fall by 300 million tonnes. Co-firing biomass with fossil fuels is cost-effective, enhances energy security and preserves natural resources. Of particular interest to developing countries, it can catalyse societal benefits by adding economic value to forestry and agricultural products or residues. The technology has been successfully demonstrated for most combinations of fuel and boiler type and operates commercially around the world. Typically, no significant technical adjustments are needed in existing plants for biomass input up to 10%.
Are bio/fossil co-firing opportunities adequately exploited? How can market penetration be accelerated? Updates and insight were provided by invited specialists at IEA Bioenergy's workshop Co-utilisation of Biomass with Fossil Fuels (2005). Presentations, workshop summary and conclusions are now downloadable from the website of IEA Bioenergy, one of the international energy technology R&D programmes within the IEA’s collaborative framework. Consult also the "Cofiring Database" for an overview of the many co-firing initiatives world-wide.

3. Environmental credentials of traded energy-efficient goods. The World Trade Organization's Doha Declaration mandated negotiators to explore the potential to liberalise trade in environmental goods. But a lively international debate has developed over what actually constitute environmental goods. Preferential trade tariffs and liberalised markets are clearly desirable to foster greater market share for energy-efficient electrical appliances in homes and offices. Characterising energy-efficiency features succinctly is difficult, however, in an international context. This complex question is examined from every angle in the OECD/IEA working paper Can Energy-Efficient Electrical Appliances be Considered "Environmental Goods"? The authors explore possible pathways to creating preferential tariffs for goods with an energy-efficiency competitive edge. They weigh high transaction costs incurred by trade negotiation against net benefits of liberalising trade in these products and look at mechanisms that might boost the benefits. Visit IEA's website.

4. Reducing standby power use in China. How much does China stand to gain from greater energy efficiency? The example of improved standby-power efficiency in household appliances provides a useful indicator. IEA analysis projects that eight or nine 1-GW power plants could be struck off China's list of immediate capacity needs for the period to 2020 if energy-efficient standby devices were vigorously promoted. This impressive finding emerges from the recent paper Raising the Profile of Energy Efficiency in China - Case study of standby power efficiency by IEA's Richard Bradley and Ming Yang. The paper reviews experience with tackling standby power consumption in OECD countries and models implementation of similar action in China. Its scenarios quantify the significant potential gains from standby-power conservation campaigns and mandatory regulations. Download Raising the Profile of Energy Efficiency in China - Case study of standby power efficiency from IEA's website. Also free for download, IEA's publication Things that Go Blip in the Night - Standby Power and How to Limit it.

5. IEA's new collaboration on electricity networks. Eight IEA member countries have already signed up to participate in the IEA Implementing Agreement on Electricity Networks Analysis, Research and Development (ENARD). More IEA and non-IEA countries are expected to join this high-level international forum designed to help operators and governments step up performance in electricity transmission and distribution. ENARD was recently launched within the IEA's framework for international energy technology collaboration to help speed exchange of information on new technologies and best practice in electricity networks, as well as undertaking collaborative R&D in wide-ranging areas of transmission and distribution operation. ENARD's Strategic Plan for 2006-2011 and its Programme of Work 2006-2007 can be accessed through the website of its Annex No. 1 Operating Agent.

. Trends in photovoltaic applications - Survey report of selected IEA countries between 1992 and 2005. This latest edition provides an overview of photovoltaic power systems (PVPS) applications and markets in the countries participating in the IEA PVPS collaborative programme (IEA-PVPS). The report analyses trends in the implementation of PV power systems between 1992 and 2005. Visit the IEA-PVPS website for this and other publications.

. Technology newsletters from IEA's international collaborative programmes
- Advanced Motor Fuels Information Issue No. 3/2006;
- Hybrid & Electric Vehicles Implementing Agreement Newsletter 2006-1
- IEA Ocean Energy Systems Newsletter - Issue 7

. Renewables in Global Energy Supply - An IEA Fact Sheet - the latest update, just out.

. IEA Heat Pump Centre's multilingual welcome pages. Learn about this international energy technology collaborative programme in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish (button bar, top of page).

. IEA's June 2005 best-selling publication Energy Technology Perspectives - Scenarios & Strategies to 2050 demonstrates how energy technologies can make a difference in a series of global scenarios to 2050. Its Executive Summary is now downloadable from IEA's website in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, as well as English.

. Summary and presentations from the workshop Energy Efficient Technologies and CO₂ Reduction Potentials in the Pulp and Paper Industry, Paris (France), 9 October 2006. Organised by IEA with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and the IEA Implementing Agreement on Industrial Energy-Related Technologies and Systems, this workshop focused on better quantification of global potential for energy efficiency and CO₂ reductions and ways to overcome barriers. Visit IEA's website.

. Summary and presentations from the workshop Energy Efficiency and CO₂ Emission Reduction Potentials and Policies in the Cement Industry, Paris (France), 4-5 September 2006. Organised by IEA and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, this workshop focused on assessing efficiency performance and identifying areas where further analysis of energy-efficiency measures by the industrial sector could add value across developed and interested developing countries. Visit IEA's website.

. A glimpse of the future - prospects for cogeneration and on-site renewables. While cogeneration's future seems rosy in the transition to greater energy-sector sustainability, affordable natural gas will be needed and the right energy policies must be in place. The issues are discussed in this article by IEA's Robert Dixon and Dolf Gielen. It appeared recently in the journal Cogeneration and On-Site Power Production (www.cospp.com).

. Proceedings from the International Workshop on Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands, Tokyo (Japan), 3-4 August 2006. Organised jointly by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) and the IEA, this event looked at the causes and impacts of "heat islands" of trapped heat in metropolitan areas and at the mitigation potential of current technology options and policy approaches. This was the first international meeting addressing this topic, which is of growing importance in cities that have significant air conditioning loads.

. Presentations, including those of workshop rapporteurs, from the IEA-CSLF Workshop on Near Term Opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage, San Francisco (United States), 22-23 August, 2006. This workshop addressed market introduction of CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) technologies, especially in the near term. Serving as a platform for information exchange, it was a preparatory event for further workshops to be organised in 2007. The proceedings are available on the website of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.

. Presentations from the 2nd IEA/CSLF Workshop on Legal Aspects of Storing CO₂, Paris (France), 17 October 2006. This second workshop carried a step further the current investigation of legal issues associated with the capture and storage of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas abatement strategy. A draft discussion paper is presented, as well as a summary of key issues raised. See also IEA's free 2005 publication Legal Aspects of Storing CO₂, which contains the findings of the first workshop in this series in July 2004.

. Ukraine Energy Policy Review 2006. This publication examines Ukraine's energy sector from many angles. It looks at the policy framework, environmental impact and developments in subsectors like energy efficiency, oil, gas, coal, electricity, district heating and renewables. IEA periodically conducts reviews of energy policies in non-IEA countries, alongside its regular reviews of policies in IEA member countries. Visit IEA's Online Bookshop. 

 

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. International Seminar on Energy and the Forest Products Industry, Rome (Italy), 30-31 October 2006. Organised jointly by IEA, WCBSD, ICFPA, FAO, UNECE and ITTO, this seminar will focus on energy and the forest products industry, identifying current challenges and the impact of new energy policies. It will aim at better insight into the place of forestry products in evolving energy scenarios and how stakeholders can co-operate so that policies better integrate them in a sustainable manner, at national, regional and global levels. Visit IEA's website.

. IEA/CIAB Workshop Coal-to-Liquids - an alternative oil supply? IEA Headquarters, Paris (France), 2 November 2006. Oil supply security and price concerns have led to a renewed interest in coal as an alternative feedstock for the production of transport fuels and chemicals. Through coal-conversion technologies such as coal-to-liquids (CTL), the world’s vast coal resources could become an important alternative to crude oil. Organised by the IEA Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB), this workshop will examine the possible impact on supply security for coal itself and on its price. CO₂ emissions issues and policy responses will be addressed. More information and invitations to this event can be requested from Brian Ricketts at IEA. See IEA's website.

. International Standby Power Conference - Time for Global Action, Canberra (Australia), 6-7 November 2006. With support from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and the International Energy Agency, the Australian Greenhouse Office will host this conference. Its objective will be to develop an internationally consistent model to address excessive standby power consumption. See IEA's website.

. Steel Committee (OECD/IEA/IISI): Climate Change Policy and Steel - Paris (France), 7-8 November 2006. Co-organised by the IEA, the OECD Iron and Steel Commitee and the International Iron and Steel Institute, this workshop will focus on the main issues surrounding iron and steel in the context of climate policy, including regional trends, various policy approaches, competitiveness concerns and future venues for progress. Visit IEA's website.

. International Workshop on Solar Photovoltaic Electricity A Wealth of Investment Opportunities Under the Sun - Zurich (Switzerland), 14 November 2006. Organised under the banner of the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS), this event will address the question: Is there money to be made from the boom in solar photovoltaic electricity (PV)? To learn more, visit the website of IEA PVPS, one of some 40 programmes within IEA's framework for international energy technology collaboration.

. 27th Annual Conference of the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), Lyon (France), 20-22 November 2006. This conference is organised by the AIVC, which is part of the IEA Programme on Energy Conservation in Buildings & Community Systems (ECBCS). The event is taking place within the framework of the 4th European Conference on Energy Performance and Indoor Climate in Buildings (EPIC), which will also feature a stream on other ECBCS research projects. The EPIC gathering will target manufacturers, engineers, designers, architects, researchers, real estate managers, policy-makers and standardisation specialists. Click to learn more.

. Workshop Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Meeting the G8 Gleneagles Challenge, Paris (France), 27-28 November 2006. Organised by the IEA’s Standing Group on Long-Term Co-operation (SLT) and the IEA’s Committee on Energy Research & Technology (CERT), this workshop will explore key technology and policy themes relating to energy efficiency in buildings. The workshop's strategic recommendations will feed into the IEA’s response to its mandate under the G8’s Gleneagles Plan of Action. Click to learn more and request an invitation.

. Third International Conference on Clean Coal Technologies for our Future, Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy), 15-17 May 2007. The move towards zero-emissions coal-fired power plants is gathering momentum. Co-organised by the IEA Clean Coal Centre, this Clean Coal Technologies event will build on the success of its previous May 2005 conference in Cagliari, taking further the debate underlying important decisions the coal industry must take for our future.

. IEA/CSLF Assessment Workshop on Near-Term Opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage, Oslo (Norway), 21-22 June 2007. This workshop is the second in a three-workshop series responding to a G8 request and organised by IEA and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. It will assess the issues raised at the August 2006 San Francisco workshop Near-Term Opportunities for CO2 Capture and Storage in the Fossil Fuel Sector. A third workshop, to be announced, will focus on recommendations to help accelerate development and commercialisation of carbon capture and storage. To learn more about these workshops, contact Jacek Podkanski at IEA.

. Conference Building Low Energy Cooling and Advanced Ventilation Technologies in the 21st Century, Aghia Pelaghia, Crete (Greece), 27-29 September 2007. Co-organised by IEA's Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre(AIVC) as its 28th conference, this event aims to cover all aspects of technology and building design dealing with ventilation and passive cooling techniques. AIVC, is part of the IEA Programme on Energy Conservation in Buildings & Community Systems (ECBCS). Consult the conference website.