I had the great opportunity to sit in on a hearing in the Senate last week. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy, convened a joint hearing to examine the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs by expanding the use of solar energy.
Katherine Ling, of the New York Times, put together a great primer on the solar energy topic and on the hearing:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, has been a leading voice on the need for more incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and successfully added several provisions in last year's stimulus bill for training and education for these "green jobs."
But Sanders has said that the investment was only "a good start," especially in the solar energy industry.
"The solar cell was invented in the United States. Unfortunately, however, we now import almost half our solar panels, while countries like Germany and Spain get more energy from solar energy than we do," Sanders said in November. "There is potential for huge job gains as we manufacture and install photovoltaic panels and solar hot-water systems and construct solar thermal plants in the Southwest."
Sanders said he is planning to reintroduce legislation soon that will provide incentives for buying solar panels and the companies that produce them with a goal to achieve 10 million solar rooftops in the United States in 10 years.
Although they were a little rushed due to an unexpected vote on the floor, the witnesses and Senators both held their own as they discussed the benefits and negative consequences of subsidizing specific types of technology, whether going solar would be good for job creation, and what needs to be done to spur investment in U.S. solar.
With that in mind, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar discussed his attempts to streamline the application process for large renewable energy projects. Following Salazar’s testimony, a panel from leading U.S. solar energy companies discussed the impediments to building in the United States and what they believe could be done to make it easier. I was really impressed with Senator Merkeley (D-OR) who asked some really great science questions of the panelists. He even asked about the differences between water cooling and air cooling systems at solar-thermal plants.
Nicely done.
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