Energy Policy
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 - 11:17 AM

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On August 21, IEEE-USA held an Energy Forum to begin to address what the United States energy policy should be in the oncoming years. The forum was scheduled as a response to the request by Senator Lamar Alexander's staff for IEEE-USA to make recommendations that could be used to advance his initiative for the country to start a "New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy Independence." His speech on May 9th in Oak Ridge, TN, identified seven "Grand Challenges" for the next five years: Plug-in electric cars and trucks, carbon capture and storage, solar power, nuclear waste, advanced biofuels, green buildings, and fusion.

The Energy Forum, sponsored by the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee (EPC), chaired by Tom Gentile, focused on identifying near-term, mid-term, and far-term issues that must be worked on to promote these grand challenges. Since the Forum was only a one-day event, the resultant output couldn't make specific recommendations. The effort consisted of noting the challenges to be faced in the three timeframes. The EPC will meet in September with the aim of selecting those technologies that could be "low hanging fruit" to lead to recommendations to the next Congress and Administration.

It is important to recognize that the U.S. is very concerned about our energy future, and the Congress is committed to addressing those concerns. Not only has Senator Alexander made speeches along those lines, but Senator Bingaman has also been very active. In the House of Representatives, many have evidenced their concern. Those who read this blog can recieve copies of the Alexander and Bingaman speeches as well as the minutes of the Energy Forum by emailing me at president@ieeeusa.org  
 

 
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