Officials talk new energy sources

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Posted 9:17AM on Sunday, May 5, 2002

DETROIT - Top officials from eight of the world's richest countries closed a two-day energy summit saying that new energy sources must be tapped to meet world demand. Huge amounts of money must be invested to finance efforts to develop the sources and new energy technology, delegates of the Group of Eight Nations said. ``Everyone who participated here recognizes there are vast reserves around the world that could potentially be developed, but it needs private investments,'' U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. During the two-day forum, representatives from the G-8 nations talked about the future of the world's energy needs, touching on themes of energy security, development and protection of the environment. The summit was the first G-8 gathering to focus on energy since a Moscow meeting in 1998. The event was billed as a major goal of President Bush's national energy policy proposal unveiled a year ago. Participating in the summit were representatives from the United States, Canada, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy and France. Abraham and Herb Dhaliwal, Canada's minister of natural resources, said that increasing energy efficiency and using a mix of sources - including nuclear power - improves energy security, economic growth and environmental protection. Research and development of new energy technology is crucial to ``diversifying the energy mix and reducing the environmental impacts of energy production and use,'' they said in a statement after Friday's session. The discussions were held behind closed doors, but Abraham and Dhaliwal said delegates agreed significant investment in energy production are needed to meet the world's energy needs. Loyola de Palacio, vice president of the European Commission, said there was a general agreement on the importance of renewable energy for sustainable development, supply diversification, environmental preservation and energy security. Abraham said delegates also stressed that oil-consuming countries must maintain emergency stocks - especially during volatile times. Palacio said the world's increasing dependence on road transportation and the need to develop alternative fuels and technologies have become major concerns. ``In the majority of industrialized countries, we cannot simply drill our way out of oil dependency,'' Palacio said. Two panel sessions on fuel cell vehicles were held Thursday, and Abraham announced that his department will host an International Conference on the Future of Energy Transportation Technologies in Detroit this fall. The development of hydrogen as a primary fuel for vehicles will be one of the topics.