The United States will host the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference March 4-6, 2008.

The conference, which has been held previously in Bonn and Beijing, is an opportunity for government, private sector, and non-governmental leaders to jointly address the goal of advancing renewable energy.

Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky hosted stakeholders in the renewable energy industry last week to announce the conference and discuss their goals.

“This conference will play a key role in addressing energy security and climate change,” she said. “WIREC will also provide a platform to promote strategies for the development and rapid adoption of renewable energy systems worldwide,” Dobriansky says.

USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr also attended the WIREC kickoff to talk about USDA’s involvement in the conference. “It is important in this discussion to remember that renewable energy is in large part rural energy—ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel and biomass technology all rely primarily on farm and forest resources, and wind because of its siting requirements is also largely a rural resource,” said Dorr.