From the Lab to the Marketplace (1995)
International Activities
Many of the DOE efficiency-related activities have spun off beneficial ideas and information to other countries. Several countries have emulated LBNL methodologies for developing appliance and building standards. Low-e windows and electronic ballasts are also finding overseas markets. The DOE-2 computer program is used in 42 other countries and has been used to develop building energy efficiency standards in, among others, the ASEAN nations (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines), Canada, Brazil, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Australia, and Switzerland.
LBNL's own activities in the international arena include energy demand and policy analysis for industrialized and developing countries and formerly planned economies. Two special projects focus on Russia and China, which include helping Russian window companies identify efficiency-enhancing technologies within their defense industry, establishing an Energy Efficiency Center in Beijing, and assisting in the formation of joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese industries. DOE laboratories have provided general training and technology transfer for dozens of utilities and energy planners from outside the U.S.
LBNL's international group helps scientists and energy policy makers from 16 countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Asia, Africa, and Latin America assess their opportunities for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. With this goal, the Laboratory has established networks of experts in energy and forestry for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal entity responsible for creating the developing country emissions scenarios used by the prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. LBNL is participating in DOE's Country Studies Program. This initiative grew out of the commitment made by the U.S. at the 1992 Earth Summit to help countries comply with the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The program is designed to help developing and transitional countries to (1) develop inventories of their anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, (2) assess their vulnerabilities to climate change, (3) assess their ability to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and (4) formulate and evaluate response strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. LBNL was selected to provide technical support for the third task—mitigation assistance—because of its substantial knowledge of the technologies, policies, and analytical methods for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. In support of this activity, LBNL brought together a technical support team of 30 researchers from academic, private, and government institutions experienced in global climate change issues. In addition to LBNL, the team includes five U.S. national laboratories: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This group's first project was a two-week, intensive, hands-on workshop attended by 60 representatives of the target countries.
In addition, we have established an informal program through which energy researchers from developing countries work at LBNL on projects of mutual interest. Over the past ten years, more than 100 researchers have spent more than 50 person-years at the Laboratory on such projects.
