Chairman's Message

Dear Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a real pleasure for me to announce the 7th edition of the European Forum Gas and to invite you to attend it.
The year 2008 has seen the adoption by the EU parliament of the Europe’s climate and energy package which was finally adopted in December, after several discussions prompted also by the financial crisis which could potentially make difficult for some MS to cope with the constraints posed by the package.
It’s clear that the objectives of 20% reduction of greenhouse gases reduction, 20% share of renewable energy and 20% improvement in energy efficiency, all of them by 2020 and the revision of the Emission Trading Scheme will represent a true challenge for all the industries concerned and the gas Industry in particular.
Therefore the Conference sessions aim to address the new challenges posed by the package and to inform about possible solutions.
The first session will focus on the quality and safety of gas installations, essential to guarantee the safety of gas utilization. Experts will highlight quality schemes in the different MS with the view of a possible European quality scheme for gas installers.
It is clear that the 20% of energy efficiency improvement by 2020 cannot be reach without improvements in the appliances performances: the second session wants therefore to address this important issue showing examples of new gas appliances development and an efficient way for energy labeling.
The third session will focus on materials used for the construction of the gas grids and the role played by standardization in ensuring a common level of safety.
Issues like investing in new infrastructures, up rating the existing ones increasing their performances, new ways of measuring the gas consumption at distance and their added value for gas companies, the impact on safety of the injection of Hydrogen into the gas grids and the developments of safety indicators for distribution grids are highlighted by the experts in the final and fourth session.

Marcogaz is organizing this forum with the support of SEDIGAS, the Spanish Gas Association which has the responsibility for the organization in the renown location of the North Convention Center of IFEMA, in Madrid where I hope to see many of you.

For further information on EFG2009 please go to the link www.efg2009.com

Miloš Krebrdle
President of Marcogaz