NEWS AND VIEWS: Ukrainian-American Environmental Association writes to Bush and Yanukovych of "opportunities" (12/03/06)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ukrainian-American Environmental Association writes to Bush and Yanukovych of "opportunities"

WASHINGTON/RIVNE, Ukraine - In letters delivered this week to Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and U.S. President George W. Bush, the Ukrainian-American Environmental Association (UAEA) outlined "Ten Opportunities for the United States to Assist Ukraine in the Sphere of Improving Energy Efficiency."

Prime Minister Yanukovych is scheduled to visit the United States on December 3-7 and meet with top U.S. government officials to discuss a number of policy issues, including energy.

In its letter, UAEA noted that the prime minister has "commented upon the importance for Ukrainian industry, local government and others to reduce energy waste and to improve energy efficiency for the good of the nation's economy and its national security."

It added: "We believe that your upcoming visit to the United States affords a good opportunity to explore options for U.S.-Ukraine cooperation for pursuing your goals in the area of energy efficiency."

Accordingly, UAEA outlined 10 areas in which the United States could actively work with Ukraine to reduce energy waste and thereby improve its economy and national security. These include expanded scholar and business exchange programs, financial assistance, formal Verhovna Rada-U.S. Congress communications, an additional role for the U.S. Peace Corps, translations of U.S. energy efficiency studies and training materials, replication of successful U.S. energy efficiency programs, and using the new U.S. Embassy in Kyiv as a demonstration of energy-efficient design.

The listing of "10 opportunities," follows. A Ukrainian-language version of the news release and letter appear on-line at http://ua-ea.org/222/povdlomlennya-dlya-zm; an English-language version is at http://ua-ea.org/223/news-release.

Ten opportunities

1.) U.S. AID: The U.S. Agency for International Development recently approved funding in the amount of $1 million to facilitate energy efficiency upgrades at industrial facilities in Ukraine. While a good first step, there remain numerous other opportunities for further USAID investment in energy efficiency in Ukraine, such as community-based energy-savings programs, public education and energy-efficiency financing mechanisms. Therefore, working with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Ukrainian officials, U.S. AID could give much higher priority to funding additional energy efficiency projects.

2.) Millennium Challenge: The recent decision of the board of directors of the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) to add Ukraine to the list of countries now eligible for development assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) affords Ukraine a new opportunity to secure funding assistance to address poverty reduction and economic growth through improved energy efficiency. The U.S. government could work with its Ukrainian counterparts, as well as with interested Ukrainian and American NGOs and citizens to design compact proposals that incorporate energy efficiency into program plans and goals.

3.) SABIT Program: The Special American Business Internship Training (SABIT) Program administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) helps to place Ukrainian entrepreneurs with American businesses to acquire training and experience in U.S. business practices. The U.S. Embassy and DoC could prioritize energy efficiency by actively working to identify U.S. firms working in the field of energy-saving technologies (e.g., design, manufacture, installation, financing) as well as help identify Ukrainian business leaders interested in this issue and facilitating placements and training.

4.) BISNIS Program: The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC), through the Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS), could more aggressively reach out to U.S. companies exploring export and investment opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and encourage them to invest in Ukraine and/or partner with Ukrainian firms in these fields. At present, there are relatively few Ukrainian companies manufacturing efficiency and renewable energy equipment and even fewer ESCOs (i.e., energy service companies) that can help underwrite such investments. Through its trade fairs and missions, as well as its publications, DoC could promote greater American involvement in these sectors.

5.) Scholar exchanges: The multiple federally sponsored scholar and research exchange programs, including the Freedom Support Act, Muskie and Fulbright programs, could give higher priority to recruiting and placing Ukrainian students, teachers, scholars and researchers interested in energy efficiency and related environmental issues at U.S. educational institutions. Likewise, greater emphasis could be given to assisting American scholars wishing to teach and/or conduct research on how Ukraine could improve the energy efficiency of its economy, as well as address other related energy and environmental issues.

6.) Replication of model U.S. programs: The U.S. federal government has developed some very effective energy efficiency programs. These include the Energy Star program (which returns $75 in energy savings for every dollar invested), the Federal Energy Management Program (which has a 9:1 savings-to-cost ratio), the federal Weatherization Program, the government energy efficiency procurement program, the federal energy efficiency research and development program, and the federal appliance efficiency standards program. Similarly, many model energy efficiency programs have been implemented by U.S. states, counties and cities. Most of these programs could be fairly easily replicated in Ukraine at relatively low cost but with the potential for high energy savings. Therefore, under the auspices of the US. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, federal (as well as state and local) officials who administer these programs could go to Ukraine to provide information and/or training for Ukrainian officials (or, alternatively, Ukrainian officials could come to the U.S. to meet with their American counterparts).

7.) Congress-Rada exchanges: As of the time of the recent U.S. congressional elections, there were 219 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are members of the House Renewable Energy + Energy Efficiency (RE/EE) Caucus. Similarly, 34 members of the U.S. Senate are members of the Senate RE/EE Caucus. Many of these members have expressed strong interest in Ukraine (in fact, the large majority of the members of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus are also members of the House RE/EE Caucus). Special efforts could be made to facilitate meetings of members of the RE/EE Caucuses, who also have an interest in Ukraine, with their counterparts in the Verhovna Rada. The specific focus of the ensuing dialogue would be strategies for developing and implementing effective legislation in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy based on the best of American experience.

8.) U.S. Peace Corps: Ukraine has the world's largest contingent (at present, 300+) of Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs). Given the placement of PCVs in schools as well as with NGOs and government agencies in cities, towns and villages throughout the country, Peace Corps volunteers would be in a particularly good position to develop education programs about energy efficiency and related energy issues for students, NGOs, local government offices, and community residents. However, this is presently not a designated program of PC-Ukraine and would require a formal agreement between U.S. Peace Corps and the Ukrainian government to facilitate an expansion into this area.

9.) U.S. Embassy facilities as a model: The U.S. Embassy could announce a series of energy efficiency initiatives at its own facilities to serve as a model for Ukrainian government officials - and then provide tours, seminars, and training for Ukrainian nationals so that the U.S. experience could be replicated. A particularly good opportunity is presented by the soon-to-begin design phase of the new U.S. Embassy compound in Kyiv. The best in energy efficiency and green building designs could be incorporated so that the end result is a state-of-the-art facility that showcases the latest in energy-saving, environmentally safe and renewable energy technologies. To the extent that security considerations permit, Ukrainian architects, designers, builders, government officials, and students could be invited to presentations and training sessions related to the design and building of the new facility.

10.) Translation of U.S. publications: Over the past 30 years, the U.S. government has developed vast amounts of educational and technical materials on energy efficiency for use in the United States by businesses, industrial facilities, hospitals, schools, government buildings (and officials), farmers, motorists, and homeowners. It would be useful to have the best of these resources translated into Ukrainian and/or Russian so they could be reproduced and used in Ukraine. (Since these are U.S. government publications, they generally are not copyrighted or otherwise restricted and therefore there should not be any problems with replicating "intellectual property.")

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The Ukrainian-American Environ-mental Association is a private, non-governmental organization founded in 2004 and chartered in both the United States and Ukraine. It is a network of nearly 800 Ukrainian and American NGOs, academic researchers, businesses and government officials to facilitate the exchange of information on a broad array of environmental issues including, but not limited to, energy policy, climate change, air and water pollution, toxic wastes, soil conservation, sustainable agriculture, and wildlife and wilderness protection.

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