The US and China are seeking closer collaboration on clean energy research to reduce energy consumption, according to working groups of the US-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC).

"Both the US and China have huge potential in energy saving, since they both are largest energy consumption sectors," said Clay G. Nesler, vice president of the Johnson Controls, a member of the CERC-Building Energy Efficiency consortium.

The consortium seeks to conduct research on building energy efficiency technologies, where the Chinese and US seek jointly to increase building energy efficiency.

"We are working closely with our industry partners and governments of both countries," said Nan Zhou of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who leads the US consortium. "We have achieved pretty good progress."

Zhou stated that demonstration buildings in China incorporating new technologies, ranging from roof to lighting projects have been built.

The CERC, established in 2009 by President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama, aims to facilitate research, development and commercialization of clean energy technologies in both countries, and also serves as a platform for experts in terms of clean energy affairs. It has been extended for an additional five years from 2016 to 2020.

Besides the Building Energy Efficiency consortium, the Advanced Coal Technology consortium and the Clean Vehicles consortium also appear in the forum.

James Wood, leader of the US consortium of Advanced Coal Technology, said that they have accomplished great progress in advanced coal usage, such as advanced power generation, clean coal conversion technology, and several capture systems.

"We hope to advance the coal technology needed to efficiently utilize coal resources," he said.

Ted Miller, senior manager at Ford Motor Co, in partnership with the Clean Vehicles consortium, noted that the biggest challenge new clean technologies are facing might not be policy or technology advancement.

"It is the consumers who have the independent decision-making," he said, implying that customers lack motivation to buy clean-energy driven products.

Huei Peng, leader of the consortium, said it is working on 24 projects in six areas, and the goal is to reduce carbon emission from vehicles.

The 2015 CERC forum is taking place in Washington, and brings together academic and private sector partners from the US and China review energy-sourcing programs.

Liu Xiaoxian in Washington contributed to this story.