New technologies – cars, buses, trucks and ships that run on natural gas and biomethane, high efficiency home heating systems that can also produce electricity, hydrogen and biogas – can already today make a large contribution to tomorrow’s low carbon economy.
In the framework of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue, more than 100 participants attended the conference held in Brussels on 24 June to examine innovative uses of natural gas.
On the European side, Mr Philip Lowe, Director General of DG Energy at the European Commission, and Mr Gertjan Lankhorst, CEO of GasTerra and Vice-President of Eurogas, opened the event. For the Russian Federation, Mr Alexey Sukhov, Director of International Cooperation at the Russian Ministry of Energy, and Mr Valeryi Yazev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma (Parliament) and President of the Russian Gas Society, made keynote speeches.
The conference focused on the way that new technologies with gas can contribute to the creation of a low carbon economy. Technologies presented included compressed natural gas (CNG) passenger cars, liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks and ships that also use biomethane and high efficiency home heating systems, some of which also produce electricity, as well as biogas and hydrogen.
Exhibitions of natural gas vehicles and the leading-edge heating technologies, such as micro- CHP, heat pumps and fuel cells, were organized alongside the conference. The conference was supported by the European Union of Natural Gas Industry (Eurogas), the Russian Gas Society (RGS), the European Natural & bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA Europe), the European Technical Gas Association (Marcogaz) and the European Gas Research Group (GERG).
Conference conclusions
The conference participants
– underline the importance of natural gas in EU – Russia energy relations and that natural gas should remain an available, reliable, competitive and affordable fuel;
– take note of the potential environmental and other benefits of the alternative uses of gas, notably in the transport sector, taking into account the EU and Russian targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions and for energy efficiency;
– note that while policies are still being formulated, several technological options involving natural gas are already practically operational and so could contribute to the above objectives;
– welcome the implementation of different projects of the private sector, including the “Blue Corridors” concept and other initiatives to promote the use of natural gas in the transport sector and the efforts to improve infrastructure and the regulatory framework in this respect;
– note the challenge in the transport sector of parallel development of a fuelling network and of mass vehicle production, and takes note of the prospects for LNG use in the maritime sector, also in shared seas such as the Baltic or the Black Sea;
– encourage the definition of long term targets, critical for all NGV market stakeholders, including vehicle and equipment manufacturers, fuel retailers, infrastructure developers and end customers;
– underline the importance of coherent public policy and the harmonisation of standards in this area and call for the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue to discuss this issue in cooperation with other respective authorities in Russia and in the EU where necessary;
– note the importance to adress innovative and low-carbon solutions in the development of the EU-Russia energy roadmap until 2050;
– encourage further events and activities in this respect, including on innovation aspects, in the context of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue.
[mappress] Source:ngvaeurope , July 4, 2011;