HOUSE MEETS ON RENEWABLES, WARMING – WATCH LIVE!

Astutely assessing the public’s growing interest in energy and climate change issues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming early in 2007, naming Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass) to head it. The committee has created: a superb interactive website and will webcast its September 20 hearing live.

Hearing on "Renewable Electricity Standards” will feature Colorado Governor
September 19, 2007 (House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming)

WHO
- Panel One: The Hon. William Ritter, Governor of Colorado
- Panel Two: Nancy Floyd, Founder and Managing Director, Nth Power; Chris Hobson, Senior Vice President, Research and Environmental Affairs, Southern Company; Bob Reedy, Florida Solar Energy Center; Mike Sloan, Managing Consultant, The Wind Coalition; Dave Foster, Executive Director, Blue Green Coalition, United Steelworkers

WHAT
“Renewable Electricity Standards: Lighting the Way” is the title Congressman Markey’s committee has given this hearing.

Formerly referred to by the arcane phrase Renewable Portfolio Standard, a national RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD (RES) would reconcile the many competing and confusing state standards. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The hearing will be Thursday, September 20, at 9a (EST).

WHERE
It will be in the Rayburn Bldg in Washington, D.C. but can be viewed live at the Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming website.

WHY
- The need for a move to renewable energies in the face of world political and meteorological changes is widely accepted.
- A Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requires utilities to obtain a specific percent of their electricity from renewable sources by a specific year. 25 states have some version of an RES, with varying percentages, varying time frames and varying definitions of “renewable.”



- Energy legislation now being debated in Congress includes a national RES passed by the House of Representatives but rejected by the Senate. It would require all US privately owned utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. It also offers a standardizing definition of “renewable.”
- A national RES would facilitate the work of private investment companies like Nth Power driving the market toward more renewable energy. Major utility Southern Company has been recalcitrant on the RES, claiming that not all states have the necessary resources and that developing renewables could drive up rates and cost jobs. Representatives of the Florida Solar Energy Center, The Wind Coalition, and the United Steelworkers’ Blue Green Coalition will likely refute such objections.

QUOTES
Markey: “The Select Committee will be working every day to make a difference, but it will also take concerned citizens to enact the significant changes we need to effectively address two of the most important issues of our time: global warming and energy security.”