Our dependence on oil comes at an enormous cost in terms of U.S. lives and a staggering military budget that has soldiers based in more than 130 countries.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development and deployment of “cost-effective and sustainable clean energy technologies,” through the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) funded by U.S. taxpayers.
The MOU was signed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and Dr. Tidu Maini, the Executive Chairman of QSTP, on the sidelines of the 2011 Business and Investment in Qatar Forum in New York this week.
Qatar, an ally of the United States in the ongoing Libya war, has enormous reserves of both oil and natural gas, and as a result is an extremely wealthy nation. Qatar has agreed to market Libyan oil from sites controlled by the Libyan rebels and has sent troops to fight. Qatar also sponsors the Al-Jazeera television news network, the most influential media outlet in the Arab world.
Under what is called an expanded partnership, the countries will exchange scientific and technical information and undertake joint research, development, and deployment initiatives that will help “spur energy innovation, create new markets for clean energy and support economic growth.” No financial details were released.
“This partnership adds a new and exciting dimension to the already strong relationship between our two nations,” said Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Poneman. “By bringing our scientists and engineers together to pursue joint research, we’ll be able to develop the next generation of clean energy technologies more quickly. These innovations will help us to grow our economies and to build a more secure, prosperous, and sustainable clean energy future.”
Critics of government sponsored research claim that taxpayers have little to show for such agreements as marketable products are often developed by private or public companies who then retain the products, paying little or now royalties for the foundation research. Proponents maintain that industry will not do the necessary research and development in basic areas without subsidies.
“This will offer a great opportunity to QSTP and its partners to collaborate with leading international laboratories in the United States, in technology areas that are a priority for QSTP’s future development. In turn QSTP will make available opportunities for ARPA to collaborate on technologies that are under development in Qatar,” said Dr. Tidu Maini, the Executive Chairman of QSTP
The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), and QSTP will pursue cooperation in five key areas:
- Advanced Cooling Technologies, including next-generation cooling technologies, systems integration and building controls;
- Renewable Power Generation, for example, cost-effective integrated photovoltaic systems and coating technologies to reduce the effect of weather conditions;
- Energy Storage, including high energy density electric storage and thermal storage for combined heat and power systems;
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration, including improving the efficiency of existing and next-generation technologies and methods for the safe and efficient storage and transportation of high-pressure carbon dioxide;
- Water Treatment Systems, including efficient desalination techniques and effective water purification.
Over the next decade, the partners will work together and with the private sector to foster scientific exchanges and research on cutting-edge technologies, including the use of Qatari facilities as test-beds for large-scale demonstrations of U.S. and Qatari technologies. The data collected from these demonstrations will help further refine the development of innovative technologies and could provide the partners with new capabilities to meet their respective energy goals for the future.
This agreement will also serve to reinforce and complement joint U.S-Qatar participation in multilateral partnerships to achieve clean energy development and shared climate change goals.
“This is an important agreement and affords Qatar access to U.S. clean energy innovation. In doing so, the United States is contributing directly to Qatar’s Vision 2030. I believe this agreement will become a cornerstone in the science and technology relationship between our two countries,” said U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, Mr. Joseph LeBaron.
