I have blogged previously about how the failure to focus on energy efficiency is one of the root causes of the global economic crisis, and how economic stimulus packages must address these fundamental problems to succeed.
We here in the United States have been slow to recognize this connection, perhaps because of a national political dialogue on climate change that focused on the costs of cutting emissions while ignoring the much larger economic benefits. This has been less of a problem in Europe, where attempts to meet the goals of the Kyoto protocol have spawned deep interest in energy policies to promote efficiency.
The progress that Europe is making can be heard in an interview between the Alliance to Save Energy's President Kateri Callahan with European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The Commissioner discusses some of the more ambitious goals that the European Union has established and how the EU and its member states are working to meet them.
The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) is a strong partner with NRDC in the effort to bring policy attention to energy efficiency globally as well as in the United States. ASE will be holding a conference and trade show - the Energy Efficiency Global Forum and Exposition - in Paris from Monday, April 27 through Wednesday, April 29. Commissioner Piebalgs will be speaking, one of 100 leading voices representing 26 countries and six continents expected to be at the conference.
I hope that NRDC's members and supporters who are able to be in Paris at this time, or are willing to make the sacrifice of travelling there, will attend.
For more information on EE Global 2009, to register for or serve as a sponsor of the event, please visit http://eeglobalforum.org; or contact Mindy Berman at (310) 915-5947 or mberman@ase.org.