Advanced Energy Perspectives

On June 6, in response to skyrocketing oil and natural gas prices – an effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – President Biden took a pair of bold steps to kickstart U.S. production of secure, clean, reliable, affordable energy. Now the Administration and Congress need to follow through, ensuring the government’s deeds live up to the President’s words, and the near-term boost leads to permanent production capacity and manufacturing jobs.

On Saturday, March 12, the Virginia General Assembly (GA) adjourned its 2022 legislative session. Left unfinished were the Commonwealth’s biannual budget and a set of judicial appointments, necessitating a Special Session in the weeks ahead. Nonetheless, adjournment sine die at the end of the always frantic 60-day session marked the end of substantive legislative action. While the main focus was defense of the advanced energy progress made over the past two years, which was mostly successful, a couple of small but meaningful wins added to the total. And there was plenty of drama along the way.

It’s Labor Day! It’s a day not only for backyard BBQs and final dips in the pool, but also, and more importantly, a day to recognize the hard-working yet under-appreciated folks who built America, and keep it humming. For us at AEE, it’s also a day to provide some new resources for growing jobs in the advanced energy industry.

Today, the United States faces a period of economic anxiety brought about by widening inequality, globalization, and technological transformation, made all the more acute by a global pandemic. This anxiety has heightened political appeals to prioritize domestic industry, combat economic adversaries, and protect American jobs. The advanced energy industry is uniquely positioned to help address this anxiety by creating middle-class jobs throughout the United States in a sector that’s poised for sustained and accelerating growth as the global economy transitions to clean, reliable, affordable resources. But it will take policy leadership to make the United States the arsenal of advanced energy prosperity. Here’s how.

Setting out toward an advanced transportation future can feel like a mythic quest, given the array of investments, organizations, policies, and regulations required. Only a handful of states have truly embarked upon it, and none have reached the promised land yet. But a new entrant, Virginia, has embarked on that journey, and after a quick legislative session just ended, is making impressive headway.