Join us for a Webinar on October 21
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The Indiana Renewable Energy Association in conjunction with Indiana Distributed Energy Advocates are sponsoring a Special Webinar with Neil Brown with the Office of Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana.
Sen. Lugar and his proposed federal energy policy was the subject of a recent Indianapolis Star Guest Editorial by John Mutz. See http://indianarenew.blogspot.com/2010/10/mutz-says-lugar-plan-outshines-other.html
Although no one can predict the outcome of the November 2nd elections and its impact on federal energy policy, we can look back at what policies and proposals were introduced and look forward to see those that might be on the table during the lame duck session of Congress.
In early June, Sen. Lugar introduced his Practical Energy and Climate Plan or S. 3464. Later in June, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) prepared a memorandum that provided a short summary and comparison of four legislative proposals that were under some level of consideration in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Lugar's proposal was one of the four discussed. While all four proposals fall within the broad category of energy and climate change policy, the specifics of the proposals vary significantly, and their approaches vary in many ways.
For more details and a link to the CRS report, visit http://indianadg.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/crs-comparison-of-selected-energy-climate-change-bills/
Brown will both look back and look forward on these federal energy and climate change proposals.
Neil Brown is an advisor to Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana. He serves as a Senior Professional Staff Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with responsibility for energy security and the Nunn-Lugar non-proliferation program. Neil earned masters degrees in political theory and forced migration while studying as a Rhodes Scholar at University of Oxford (UK). He also holds a BA from Harvard University. He has done substantial field work while living in South Asia, Namibia and Egypt, and he has previously worked with the Harvard Institute for International Development and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2009, Neil was a Washington Fellow of the National Review Institute. He is a board member of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, a trustee of the Merton College Charitable Corporation. Neil is from Iowa, where his family farm is located.
Webinar Title: Pre-election Look at Federal Energy Legislation Options by Neil Brown with Office of Sen. Dick Lugar
Date: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT
This article brought to you by the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.
Showing posts with label John Mutz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Mutz. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Mutz says Lugar plan outshines other energy bills
http://www.indystar.com/article/20101012/OPINION01/10120313/Lugar-plan-outshines-other-energy-bills
Written by John Mutz
It's no secret that Indiana's economy is struggling to regain its footing. Like the rest of the country, we've lost a lot of jobs and our unemployment rate is higher than it has been in many years.
What may be surprising to some, though, are the great strides our state is making in the area of clean energy industries during these difficult economic times.
Relatively quietly, Indiana is making a name for itself as an outstanding place to manufacture electric cars and the batteries that run them, not to mention solar panels and parts for wind turbines.
Gov. Mitch Daniels and his team have rightly begun to focus on this area of opportunity for Hoosiers. Over the last year, Abound Solar in Tipton, Wind Stream Technologies in New Albany, EnerDel in Central Indiana, Anderson-based Bright Automotive, Brevini USA in Muncie, and Elkhart's Think North America have made headlines for creating jobs and giving our economy a much-needed boost.
A number of well-established companies are also having a huge impact.
Remy International in Pendleton just entered a partnership to bring a new-generation electric drive system to market. Cummins just received more than $38 million in federal grants to develop a highly efficient and clean diesel engine. Allison Transmission's new hybrid drive manufacturing plant in Indianapolis will employ 100 when it reaches full production.
Duke Energy is investing more than $2.8 billion into its coal gasification plant, which will burn a cleaner gas to produce power.
With these innovations, we're ahead of the clean energy curve, but now we need some changes to federal policy to remain there. Energy independence should be a priority in Washington. So far the House has passed a bill, and the Senate has not reached a consensus on climate change energy legislation.
One bright spot has been the fact that Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar is among those who believe that the country needs to take steps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He's filed a bill that will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, or about 1.6 billion metric tons -- the equivalent of taking more than 240 million cars off our roads. His bill is a balanced approach that provides a reasonable step toward this goal, and it provides economic incentives that will support the growing Indiana clean energy business.
The evidence that clean energy leads to good, high-paying jobs for Hoosiers is clear. However, if you need more evidence consider this: China vaulted past Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world's largest maker of wind turbines and is poised to expand even further. In addition, the Chinese have emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels and are pushing hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
No matter what the case, we do need additional legislation at the federal level. It is better to consider an approach that doesn't threaten Hoosier jobs, such as cap-and-trade, but still moves us toward the goal of energy independence. Lugar's bill does this.
Mutz is a consultant and private investor, former two-term lieutenant governor of Indiana, former president of Lilly Endowment and former president of Cinergy/PSI Indiana.
This article brought to you by the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.
Written by John Mutz
It's no secret that Indiana's economy is struggling to regain its footing. Like the rest of the country, we've lost a lot of jobs and our unemployment rate is higher than it has been in many years.
What may be surprising to some, though, are the great strides our state is making in the area of clean energy industries during these difficult economic times.
Relatively quietly, Indiana is making a name for itself as an outstanding place to manufacture electric cars and the batteries that run them, not to mention solar panels and parts for wind turbines.
Gov. Mitch Daniels and his team have rightly begun to focus on this area of opportunity for Hoosiers. Over the last year, Abound Solar in Tipton, Wind Stream Technologies in New Albany, EnerDel in Central Indiana, Anderson-based Bright Automotive, Brevini USA in Muncie, and Elkhart's Think North America have made headlines for creating jobs and giving our economy a much-needed boost.
A number of well-established companies are also having a huge impact.
Remy International in Pendleton just entered a partnership to bring a new-generation electric drive system to market. Cummins just received more than $38 million in federal grants to develop a highly efficient and clean diesel engine. Allison Transmission's new hybrid drive manufacturing plant in Indianapolis will employ 100 when it reaches full production.
Duke Energy is investing more than $2.8 billion into its coal gasification plant, which will burn a cleaner gas to produce power.
With these innovations, we're ahead of the clean energy curve, but now we need some changes to federal policy to remain there. Energy independence should be a priority in Washington. So far the House has passed a bill, and the Senate has not reached a consensus on climate change energy legislation.
One bright spot has been the fact that Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar is among those who believe that the country needs to take steps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He's filed a bill that will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, or about 1.6 billion metric tons -- the equivalent of taking more than 240 million cars off our roads. His bill is a balanced approach that provides a reasonable step toward this goal, and it provides economic incentives that will support the growing Indiana clean energy business.
The evidence that clean energy leads to good, high-paying jobs for Hoosiers is clear. However, if you need more evidence consider this: China vaulted past Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world's largest maker of wind turbines and is poised to expand even further. In addition, the Chinese have emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels and are pushing hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
No matter what the case, we do need additional legislation at the federal level. It is better to consider an approach that doesn't threaten Hoosier jobs, such as cap-and-trade, but still moves us toward the goal of energy independence. Lugar's bill does this.
Mutz is a consultant and private investor, former two-term lieutenant governor of Indiana, former president of Lilly Endowment and former president of Cinergy/PSI Indiana.
This article brought to you by the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.
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