Americas Region Partnerships and Projects
EERE engages in the Americas through regional partnerships, as well as bilaterally with individual countries. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
Regional Partnerships
Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA)
President Obama announced the creation of the ECPA, a flexible framework under which any government in the Western Hemisphere can voluntarily opt into energy and climate initiatives or undertake new initiatives, at the April 2009 Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The ECPA's goal is to increase cooperation within the Western Hemisphere on energy and climate issues to enhance U.S. and regional energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build stronger relationships with neighboring countries. Initiatives under ECPA aim to promote the development of sound public policy, build technical capacity, and advance the clean energy sector.
EERE works through the ECPA on collaborative R&D and deployment projects to accelerate progress of EERE R&D programs and strengthen market demand for U.S. products and services through promotion of clean energy markets. Current cooperative activities and dialogues are with Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Haiti.
Bilateral Partnerships
Argentina
U.S.-Argentina Bilateral Energy Working Group (BEWG)
Building on a MOU signed on April 13, 2010 between DOE and Argentina's Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment, and Services, the BEWG is a forum for joint work on projects of mutual interest and benefit. EERE is collaborating with Argentine counterparts on energy efficiency in commercial buildings and on the integration of wind energy into the Argentine electrical grid.
Brazil
U.S.-Brazil Strategic Energy Dialogue
On March 19, 2011, President Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff agreed to launch a Strategic Economic Dialogue. EERE leads work in two of the areas highlighted under the Dialogue: Biofuels and Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency. Read the announcement
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The SED builds on the U.S.-Brazil Binational Energy Working Group, formed on July 20, 2010, when DOE and the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy signed a Joint Action Plan to develop and deploy clean energy technologies and strengthen the energy relationship between the United States and Brazil. See the full text of the Joint Action Plan (PDF 1.41MB ). Download Adobe Reader.
Canada
Clean Energy Dialogue
The U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue (CED), established during President Obama's visit to Ottawa in 2009, aims to enhance collaboration on the development of clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. The United States and Canada agreed that the Clean Energy Dialogue would focus on advanced biofuels, clean engines, and energy efficiency. Pursuing joint R&D in these and other areas will help both countries significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while strengthening North American economic performance and creating green jobs. Together with Natural Resources Canada, EERE chairs the CED R&D working group.
Collaborative activities include analyses of converting mountain-pine-beetle-killed trees into biofuels, and evaluating the electricity demand response potential of buildings to help them become integral components of the smart grid, and expanding cooperation on the ENERGY STAR program.
Mexico
Wind Energy Assessments and Development
EERE and the Mexican government have identified a number of common interest topics for cooperation in wind energy. This cooperation will include joint research in advanced wind energy technologies, and conducting resource assessments and mapping to understand the potential for producing electricity from wind in Mexico.