The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed its first bills of this Congress Wednesday in a glimmer of bipartisanship for a sharply divided Congress. When it was suggested that four hydropower bills and the Shaheen-Portman efficiency measure were merely the “low-hanging fruit” before the committee, ranking minority member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said, “And fine, let’s get some fruit.” After the vote, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) announced he would introduce legislation designed to boost residential efficiency and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) said an upcoming subcommittee hearing would also focus on new efficiency ideas.
Topics: Federal Priorities
The ability to take aggregated energy data and draw conclusions around individual energy use has led to a whole new industry of energy reporting and behavioral change. In this week's episode, Tom Plant and Jeff Lyng (pictured) discuss legislation to require comparative energy reporting to utility consumers.
Topics: State Policy
The military has long been the single largest consumer of energy in the United States. In fact, fighting a war today takes 16 times the energy it did during World War II due to mechanization, remote locations, and more advanced technology. The Army uses so much fuel it accounts for half the supplies they carry. As a story this week in USA Today points out, the U.S. military now sees its dependence on fossil fuels as a source of risk and vulnerability – and is now doing something about it. “Because of our thirst for liquid fuel, we’re not as light and agile as we once were, putting both our Marines and our expeditionary capabilities at risk,” Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, said in 2011, explaining the military’s turn toward new energy options.
Topics: News Update
The Advanced Energy Legislative Tracker (AEL Tracker) debuted this week, putting all legislation related to advanced energy pending in all 50 states just a mouse click away.
Advanced Energy Economy partnered with with Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy to develop AEL Tracker. The searchable online database is the first of its kind, allowing the user to search by policy category, state and keyword. The resulting information allows users to find legislation quickly and easily while also tracking the status of bills through the legislative process. In total, 2,228 bills are now covered by AEL Tracker.
Topics: State Policy
It has been a busy couple of weeks on Capitol Hill, with legislation introduced to open up Master Limited Partnerships, bipartisan meetings around energy tax reform, and a Senate hearing on hydropower.
Topics: Federal Priorities