Energy efficiency key to controlling demand — minister.
RIA Novosti, Mar 16
MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti) — Energy efficiency is a key tool to control demand for energy resources and help stabilize markets, Russia’s energy minister said Thursday.
“We cannot ignore important instruments — like diversification of energy resources portfolio according to fuel types, suppliers and consumers, and also transportation of energy resources — that could lower the energy security risks not only for individual countries, but also for the global community as a whole,” Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said in his opening speech to a meeting of G8 energy ministers.
The minister said that joint efforts of G8 and other countries to use renewable and alternative energy sources and provide backing for innovations in the industry could contribute to energy security.
Energy ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations are attending a two-day series of meetings in Moscow starting Thursday.
The talks, being held at the Kremlin, are expected to focus on a range of issues, including diversification of energy supplies in the face of increasing demand, as well as development and implementation of “clean” technologies. Russia has declared energy security the No. 1 issue for its G8 presidency this year.