Yesterday, the U.S. Departments of State and Energy co-chaired the first U.S.-Cuba Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group in Washington, D.C.
Participants discussed regional developments related to clean energy, including renewable energy and energy efficiency, and exchanged ideas and information on how the United States and Cuba can move forward on this shared interest.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group participants also shared information about domestic and international energy policies and established a meeting framework for future collaboration. The working group was jointly proposed and agreed to at the U.S.-Cuba Economic Dialogue on September 12 in Washington, D.C.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Working Group is made up of officials from the U.S. Department of State and Department of Energy and officials from Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment, and Ministry of Industry.
Fidel Castro, a fierce critic of biofuels like ethanol, branded the use of food crops to produce ethanol “a sinister idea” that would result in millions more humans dying of “thirst and starvation.”
His death has raised hopes among industry experts that some of Cuba’s fallow land may soon be used to address its dependence on fuel imports.
His words set an ethical red line for Cuban energy production that has yet to be crossed, despite modernization undertaken by Castro’s brother Raul, who took over the presidency provisionally upon Fidel’s illness in 2006.
For further information, please contact Alexandra Z. Tenny at TennyAZ@state.gov (202) 647-7970, or visit www.state.gov/e/enr.
