Clean Cities Transportation

Workshop for Almaty

Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Policy and International Affairs and Clean Cities Program

March 30-31, 2011, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Clean Cities Transportation Workshop for Almaty

Overview

This two-day workshop will provide a forum for stakeholders to discuss the short- and long-term opportunities and ways to overcome challenges for implementing Almaty’s compressed natural gas (CNG) clean air bus program as well as the prospects for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) in Kazakhstan.

Background of the Workshop

At the 7^th Annual U.S.-Kazakhstan Energy Partnership Meetings in Washington, DC, in November, 2010, Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman renewed the U.S. and Kazakhstan’s bilateral energy cooperation by signing a new joint action plan in the areas oil and gas, nuclear security and nuclear energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and electricity. The action plan formalizes new cooperation in the transport sector, which will include a natural gas vehicle workshop in support of 200 natural gas buses to be deployed in Almaty in 2011 and an organizational roadmap outlining the steps necessary for stakeholders to build a successful and sustainable natural gas vehicle program for Kazakhstan. KazTransGas, the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MINT), the Ministry of Oil and Gas, and other Kazakhstani organizations also participated in the meetings

Goals of the Workshop:

Understand NGVs in their worldwide context: benefits (including environment & health); functionality; vehicle availability; fueling infrastructure development; safety and lessons learned from around the world.
Identify and discuss opportunities and steps for building a successful NGV program through a Road Map to Clean Transportation in Almaty.

Audience:

For people who want to learn more about improving the Almaty environment through the use of clean, economical and safe NGVs, including but not limited to:

Federal and local policymakers in energy, transportation, health, and education;
public and private transportation operators of transit buses, refuse trucks, and taxis;
commercial sector vehicle and fleet operators;
technical and marketing executives from all sectors of the natural gas industry;
NGV and fuelling station equipment and service providers;
fire, safety and code officials;
primary, secondary and university educators;
nongovernmental organizations interested in air quality and health issues;
and members of the media.