More production, green tech to slake oil thirst

But with little prospect for a surge in production anytime soon, the focus of Sunday’s meeting was on what wealthy nations should do to rein in consumption, while reducing carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

“We also have to address too the demand side of the equation,” said John Hutton, Britain’s business secretary. “We will do that through new measures to improve energy efficiency (and) accelerate our moves to a new, low-carbon form of energy generation.”

The 11 nations, which account for 65 per cent of the world’s energy consumption, grappled with oil prices that have hit record highs. Prices made an 8 per cent gain Friday to $138.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Energy experts say most producers have little ability to expand output. The exception is Saudi Arabia, which is producing about 9.4 million barrels a day and has the ability to increase by about 2 million barrels a day, but has not done so.

While the nations meeting on Sunday did not pledge specific amounts of money, they said they would set goals in line with International Energy Agency recommendations for a vast expansion in renewable energies and energy efficiency.

For instance, the G-8 countries — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada — pledged to launch 20 demonstration projects by 2010 on so-called “carbon capture and storage,” which would allow power plants to catch emissions and inject them into underground storage spaces.

While that technology is still in its infancy, proponents say it could eventually allow the expanded exploitation of the world’s abundant supply of cheap coal without polluting the environment and speeding global warming. There were clear rifts, however, on how to approach another technology promoted by some as an answer to oil dependence: nuclear energy.

The carefully worded joint statement called for assurances on safety and security of nuclear materials.