November 23, 1998

President Clinton has asked his Science Advisor, Neal Lane, to prepare a new study of international cooperation in energy research, development and deployment. The study will be conducted by a Panel of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The Panel will be chaired by Professor John P. Holdren, Harvard University, who chaired a previous panel on "Federal Energy Research and Development for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century," in 1997. Other members of the panel include, Richard Balzhiser (EPRI), John Boright (National Research Council), William Chandler (Batelle), John Deutch (MIT), Howard Geller (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy), John Gibbons (former Science Advisor to the President), Larry Papay (Bechtel), Nathan Rosenberg (Stanford University), Maxine Savitz (Allied Signal), Bruce Stram (Enron), Robert Williams (Princeton University), Lilian Wu (IBM), and John Young (PCAST Co-Chair). The study is to be provided to PCAST by March 31 and to the President by May 1, 1999.

The President requested that his Science Advisor "review the U.S. international energy R&D portfolio and to report to me by May 1, 1999, on ways to improve the U.S. program of international cooperation on energy R&D to best support our nation's priorities and address the key global energy and environmental challenges of the next century." The Panel is specifically asked to address the following issues:

(1) "Identify the key challenges facing the United States and the world in the first several decades of the 21st century and analyze their implications with respect to national and global economic vitality, local and global environmental quality, and national security."

(2) "Provide a synopsis of international energy R&D experience within the principal U.S. agencies, with particular attention given to the lessons that have been learned and their implications for the design and operation of future activities. Include discussion of opportunities and effective mechanisms for multi-agency initiatives."

(3) "Review foreign bilateral and multilateral (e.g., Multilateral Development Banks, United Nations, etc.) public and private international energy R&D activities, examine their strategic role in meeting national goals, and identify the key lessons for U.S. international energy R&D activities."

(4) "Identify important international energy efficiency, renewable, fossil and nuclear energy technology R&D opportunities and their associated budget and programmatic requirements within a balanced R&D portfolio that would make the U.S. role more responsive to the global energy-linked challenges of the next several decades, building on work done in the previous PCAST Energy R&D Study."

(5) "Identify innovative mechanisms for large-scale publically-leveraged market-driven deployment of advanced energy technologies. Examine the relationships between R&D cooperation and international market competition in international energy programs. Evaluate experience with institutional learning in the R&D and deployment of advanced energy technologies and synthesize the lessons learned. Identify factors that limit the effectiveness of public R&D and deployment efforts."

(6) "Develop a strategic framework and action agenda that could help meet national and global challenges through international energy R&D and identify collaborative and competitive components."