WonkLine: April 3, 2009
From the Wonk Room.
In Bonn, White House climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing said Obama’s plan to lower greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020 is in the overlap of pragmatism and science.
Calling on developed nations to cut greenhouse emissions by “at least 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2020,” small island states say current targets are “going to destroy their countries.”
On Wednesday, 15 Democrats joined every Republican senator to preserve the filibuster against green economy legislation, even if “the Senate finds that public health, the economy and national security of the United States are jeopardized by inaction on global warming.”
Happy Hour: Making Finance Sustainable
Please come to the inaugural Hill Heat Happy Hour at the Reef in Adams Morgan, to drink Manhattans and discuss Copenhagen, and mix beers with biochar. Our special guest speaker will be Jerome Guillet, a top wind energy financier and sustainable energy blogger. In a brief presentation, Making Finance Sustainable, Jerome will discuss how to avoid another global financial meltdown and what barriers exist to the financing of the renewable energy sector.
Jerome Guillet is a French investment banker based in Paris, specializing in the energy sector, and more specifically on wind power. He blogs as “Jerome a Paris” on DailyKos and other sites and is editor of the European Tribune (www.eurotrib.com), a website and European politics and international affairs, and contributing editor to The Oil Drum (www.theoildrum.com), a website focused on energy. He’s also a member of the “Energize America” Netroots effort to draft a sane energy policy.
The Reef
2446 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
Come to the Inaugural Hill Heat Happy Hour with Jerome Guillet
Please come to the inaugural Hill Heat Happy Hour at the Reef in Adams Morgan Monday afternoon at 6:30, to drink Manhattans and discuss Copenhagen, and mix beers with biochar. Our special guest speaker will be Jerome Guillet, a top wind energy financier and sustainable energy blogger. In a brief presentation, Making Finance Sustainable, Jerome will discuss how to avoid another global financial meltdown and what barriers exist to the financing of the renewable energy sector. Raise your spirits while you raise your glass, and share ideas while you share a pitcher.
Jerome Guillet is a French investment banker based in Paris, specializing in the energy sector, and more specifically on wind power. He blogs as “Jerome a Paris” on DailyKos and other sites and is editor of the European Tribune (www.eurotrib.com), a website and European politics and international affairs, and contributing editor to The Oil Drum (www.theoildrum.com), a website focused on energy. He’s also a member of the “Energize America” Netroots effort to draft a sane energy policy.
Pending legislation to strengthen American manufacturing through improved industrial energy efficiency (S. 661)
Restoring America’s Manufacturing Leadership through Energy Efficiency Act of 2009
The United States faces long-term energy, climate, and competitiveness challenges that go far beyond the economic hurdles that we are facing today. Our global competitors are gaining in productivity and capturing high-value manufacturing capabilities and products that were invented in the U.S. With the convergence of these challenges, we have reached a turning point in our industrial history – to use these challenges as an opportunity for the renewal and transformation of U.S. industry and manufacturing to compete globally through sheer technical prowess and product value superiority, reducing our dependence on carbon-based fuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing productivity. This legislation takes the first steps in achieving this transformation by focusing on providing financing mechanisms for manufacturers to implement cost-competitive, energy efficient equipment and processes, as well as by establishing public/private partnerships with industry to map out where advanced American manufacturing is headed and to develop and deploy the breakthrough processes and technologies that will take us there.
1. Provides financing mechanisms for industry to retool and implement advanced technology, reducing energy intensity and emissions, while increasing competitiveness.- Establishes DOE grants to community lender/state partnerships to establish regional revolving loan programs for manufacturers.
- Links DOE’s energy assessments to SBA Loans
- Establishes partnerships between the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) and other Federal applied technology programs to engage in early stage manufacturing technology development.
- Directs DOE to benchmark our domestic industry by assessing the cost, energy and ghg emissions savings potential of commercially available, but not widely implemented industrial technologies.
- Develops with industry, technology roadmaps to map out how to achieve decreased energy intensity and emissions, while increasing competitiveness.
- Expands the regionally based Industrial Assessment Centers to reach more small and medium-sized manufacturers and train the industrial engineers of tomorrow.
- Establishes Industrial Innovation Grants to encourage and reward innovation in industrial processes and technologies.
- Establishes a joint industry-government manufacturing partnerships to shift our industry towards utilizing advanced, sustainable manufacturing technologies and processes to compete in a low-carbon global economy.
- Directs the National Academies of Science to evaluate the critical manufacturing capabilities and supply chain components needed to capture the development and production of advanced energy technologies in the U.S.
Green Intelligent Buildings Conference
Join us to learn about the technologies, practices, and processes that will be instrumental to infrastructure and economic renewal.
Featured Keynote: Kathleen Hogan, Director of Climate Protection, Partnerships Division U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Kathleen Hogan, Director of the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at the U.S. EPA, will discuss the very significant contribution and role of buildings with respect to carbon reduction, and the opportunities for building energy efficiency to be a vital element of a carbon solution. Furthermore, given increasing interest in building performance as part of a new wave of policies and programs, Kathleen will also discuss the EPA’s leading role in building performance initiatives, including programs such as ENERGY STAR and Climate Leaders.
The Westin Arlington Gateway
801 North Glebe Road
Arlington, Virginia 22203
Renewable Natural Gas - A Clean Solution to Climate and Energy Challenges
Renewable natural gas is an important part of the portfolio of clean energy solutions needed to answer the climate and energy challenges that are before us today.
This congressional briefing will bring together a panel of policy and industry experts, and answer the following questions:- What is renewable natural gas?
- What are its energy and environmental benefits?
- What are its economic benefits—how does it help communities and create jobs?
- What are the legislative proposals that would support its expansion?
- American Gas Association
- Business Council for Sustainable Energy
- Gas Technology Institute
- Jeff Petrash, Senior Managing Counsel, American Gas Association
- Lisa Jacobson, Executive Director, Business Council for Sustainable Energy
Program
Panel 1: What is Renewable Natural Gas & How Does it Benefit the Environment- Dan Lefevers, Executive Director, Gas Technology Institute
- Chris Voell, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (invited)
- Rich Kessel, President & CEO, Environmental Power Corporation
- Marisa Uchin, Manager, Federal Government Affairs, PG&E Corporation
Question & Answer and Closing Remarks
Please RSVP to Shirleen Timbers at [email protected] or (202) 824-7209.
Is Subsidizing Commercial Energy Projects the Best Way for America to Achieve its Energy Goals?
The ethanol mandate taught us that energy subsidies for commercial energy projects can lead to unintended consequences and ultimately be counterproductive. Yet Washington’s attempts to address America’s energy questions continue to rely heavily on preferences, mandates, and subsidies for energy commercialization. This is causing energy experts from across the political spectrum to begin questioning the role of subsidies in energy policy. Is this an area where liberals and conservatives might agree?
Join us for a panel with four politically diverse energy experts who will discuss these questions and others as they investigate where agreement exists on the role of energy subsidies, mandates, and preferences in commercializing energy in the United States.
Speakers- Peter Bradford, Vermont Law School, former NRC Commissioner and Union of Concerned Scientists Board Member
- Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Doug Koplow, Founder, Earth Track
- Ben Lieberman, Senior Policy Analyst, Energy and Environment, The Heritage Foundation
- Jack Spencer, Research Fellow in Nuclear Energy Policy, The Heritage Foundation
- Henry Sokolski, Executive Director, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC)
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Everything You Wanted To Know About Nuclear Energy—But Were Afraid to Ask
The nuclear science and engineering education and research community cordially invites you to attend a luncheon briefing: “Everything You Wanted To Know About Nuclear Energy—But Were Afraid to Ask.”
Sponsored by:- The Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization
- National Organization of Test, Research, and Training Reactors
- Nuclear Energy Institute
- American Nuclear Society
This lunch will feature prominent scholars and experts from universities in 25 different states. The event complies with rules for a widely attended event.
RSVP: Please RSVP with Sherazhad Hakky via e-mail: [email protected]. Please note that space is extremely limited. RSVPs must be received by Monday, March 23.
Path Ahead for Global Warming Action
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will deliver remarks on the path forward for addressing global warming, including legislation and other actions.
Alternative Transportation Fuels Part 1: Liquid Coal
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing to examine the energy, environmental, economic, and national security issues associated with liquid transportation fuels derived from coal. Coal-based fuels were first developed almost 100 years ago. Germany used liquid coal fuels from the 1920’s until World War II and South Africa has had an active liquid coal industry since 1955. Desire to reduce dependence on foreign oil has driven interest in developing alternative transportation fuels including liquid coal in the United States, which has the largest known recoverable coal reserves of any country in the world. Liquid coal, however, raises significant questions about costs, benefits, and impacts in terms of energy security, climate change, land and water resources, and public health. Speakers for this event include:
- James Katzer, PhD, Independent Consultant; Former Vice-President, Technology, Mobil Oil Corporation
- Sasha Mackler, Research Director, National Commission on Energy Policy
- Sarah Ladislaw, Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Matthew Wasson, PhD, Director of Programs, Appalachian Voices
The potential impacts of these fuels on U.S. and global greenhouse gas emissions have been a dominant concern. Unless the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the processing of these fuels can be permanently sequestered and stored, the greenhouse gas footprint of these fuels is estimated to be approximately twice that of conventional gasoline. Options to reduce life-cycle carbon emissions are being explored but are presently uncertain. How national security, climate change, and local environmental impacts should be weighed and integrated into public policy decisions regarding these fuels remains controversial and unclear.
This briefing will review these multiple issues to help guide a full and informed comparison of different policy options regarding alternative transportation fuels. Key questions to be addressed include:
- How are liquid coal fuels produced? What are the factors driving and limiting their development?
- What is the range and scale of impacts associated with the production and consumption of these fuels?
- What are the energy, environmental, and national security consequences of developing these fuels?
- How should different costs, benefits, and impacts be factored into federal policy decisions?
This briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. For more information, contact Jan Mueller at (202) 662-1883 or [email protected].
This briefing is the first in a series on alternative transportation fuels. Subsequent topics will include oil shale and tar sands, biofuels, and electricity. Details will be posted at www.eesi.org/briefings as they become available.