The Institute Helps Establish New U.S.-China Green Energy Council

Several directors of The 1990 Institute were instrumental in collaborating to create the U.S.-China Green Energy Council, which launched in San Francisco in April 2008, with major conferences held in Beijing in November 2008 and Silicon Valley in October 2009.

Both the U.S. and China face daunting challenges in the areas of national security, long term economic competitiveness, and global warming. Energy is a vital component of all three, making it arguably the most important problem that we must solve in the coming decades. While there are no magic bullets, the answer clearly lies in increasing energy efficiency in the short term and developing sustainable, carbon-neutral energy sources over the longer term.

The council brings together leading clean energy specialists from business, government, and academia from both the U.S. and China. The San Francisco Bay Area, Beijing, and Shanghai are rapidly becoming the global centers for clean energy technology promotion, development, and investment, and there are enormous gains to be achieved through enhanced collaboration between the regions.

Among the urgent questions to be addressed:
 
  • What are the dimensions of the energy challenge?
  • What has been achieved to date in research, applications, investment, and policy?
  • What are the most vexing issues yet to be addressed?
  • What technical developments and business models are needed to foster improved energy efficiency and the adoption of renewable energy sources?
  • What can we expect to see over the next five to ten years?
  • How are Bay Area and Chinese firms and individuals working together to create a clean energy future?  How can we do better?
  • What cooperation between government policy organizations in the U.S. and China can best promote energy efficiency and renewable energy? How can such cooperation promote closer ties between the two countries?
 
For more information and to get involved in the work of the U.S. China Green Energy Council, please visit www.ucgef.org.

Co-founding Organizations
 

Asia Society Northern California
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley China Initiative
Berkeley Chinese Alumni International Association
The 1990 Institute
Bay Area Council
Bay Area Science Innovation Consortium (BASIC)
University of California Office of the President 10+10 Program
San Jose State University
Chinese Association of Science and Technology
Energy Research Institute

For more information and to get involved in the work of the U.S. China Green Energy Council, please visit www.ucgef.org.