At the latest Pollutec environmental equipment exhibition held from 2 to 5 December in Lyon (France), ADEME renewed its cooperation agreement with NEDO, the Japanese agency responsible for developing energy and environmental technology.

For over 20 years, France and Japan have maintained close ties in the area of scientific and technology cooperation on energy issues. These ties were officially renewed in 2005 under the cooperation agreement between NEDO and ADEME signed at the Aichi Expo. “The aim was to boost the exchange of information on energy and environment, especially in the areas of policy and measures, research strategies and international cooperation priorities”, recalls Dominique Campana, Director of International Affairs at ADEME. Since 2005, the two structures have organised numerous conferences attended by their public and private partners to address issues as diverse as low energy buildings, future vehicles, etc. “Japan and France have many points in common: both have virtually no fossil fuel reserves, and they both introduced energy efficiency policies at a very early stage”, points out François Moisan, Director of Strategy and Research at ADEME. These are two very good reasons to strengthen the ties in 2008 for the 150th anniversary of the Franco-Japanese Peace, Friendship and Commerce Treaty. For the occasion, Chantal Jouanno, President of ADEME, and Seiji Murata, her Japanese counterpart at NEDO, signed a new agreement on 2 December at the Pollutec environmental equipment exhibition.

THE FUTURE THROUGH DEMONSTRATION
“The renewal of this agreement opens the door to more comprehensive and more concrete cooperation. In addition to exchanging information, NEDO and ADEME will work on joint experiments involving future technology”, explains François Moisan. Indeed, France has just established a fund to support research demonstrators in the area of new energy technology, and NEDO provides financial aid to demonstrator activities in large-scale experimental units, notably in the area of photovoltaic energy. For example, the Japanese agency financed the Ota City solar project to test connection reliability of the generators of 543 solar homes to the conventional power grid. Under this new agreement, France may undertake a similar programme based around a sustainable development project, an eco-district, for example. Testing this demonstrator would be performed in partnership with NEDO. Several research stakeholders in France could join this partnership, such as French electricity company EDF, the French Institute for Solar Energy INES, engineering school ‘École des Mines de Paris’, and the French Scientific and Technical Centre for Building CSTB.