Global Energy Network

The Global Energy Network for Community Sustainability (GEN) is an emerging affiliation of organizations that collaborate on sustainable energy initiatives which contribute to the economic, social and environmental health of communities around the world. The GEN is being developed through the joint efforts of the Gas Technology Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy under the department's "Efficient Energy for Sustainable Development Partnership". GEN initiatives will accelerate the adoption of cleaner and more efficient technologies in energy production, delivery and use in residential buildings and municipal, industrial, commercial and transportation infrastructure and facilities. GEN affiliates promote local sustainability through design and development practices that result in distributed power generation, integrated energy systems and optimal resource efficiency.

Toward these ends, GEN affiliates collaborate to:

• Facilitate Global Energy Awareness Campaigns to inform energy consumers across all sectors about the most economically efficient and environmentally benign technologies and best management practices available today;

• Produce Tools, Training, Technology Research & Demonstration Initiatives to increase the capacity of public and private planners, architects, engineers, utilities and developers to design and build energy-efficient community projects;

• Facilitate Sustainable Energy Project Investment to increase the flow of capital for energy efficient and environmentally sound community development projects;

• Promote Community Governance Models & Exchanges to create stable, enlightened and flexible institutional policies that encourage entrepreneurial initiatives and private investment in projects supporting energy-efficient and environmentally sound community development;

• Disseminate Community Energy Planning Resources to promote a "systems" approach to planning and development that reduces energy intensity and associated environmental degradation across all community end-uses.

Currently, the GEN consists of affiliated organizations in the United States, China and Israel. Additional affiliates are in the early stages of development in Argentina, Japan and the United Kingdom. Discussions are also underway with prospective affiliates in Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands and Thailand. During its start-up phase, the GEN is being coordinated by The National Energy Center for Sustainable Communities (NECSC - formerly known as the Global Energy Center for Community Sustainability).