Wednesday, April 7, 1999
2:00 p.m.- 3:30 p.m., 2168 Rayburn House Office Building

Renewable energy technologies are among the fastest growing markets in the world and represent major business opportunities for US companies, both here and abroad. US companies are involved in 80 percent of the world's geothermal projects in developing countries but are facing ever increasing foreign competition. How and when we expand the use of renewable energy technologies will have significant consequences for our nation's environmental, energy, and economic policies. Just a few of the issues likely to come before this Congress which involve renewable energy are: "Credit for Early Action" in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the tax bill, appropriations for the Department of Energy's energy efficiency and renewable energy technology research and development, and utility restructuring.

This briefing will examine the future of geothermal energy and discuss a soon to be released comprehensive report on the global resource potential of geothermal energy. Speakers and their topics will be:

• Dr. P. Michael Wright, Deputy Director of the Energy and Geosciences Institute at the University of Utah, will discuss the extent of the U.S. geothermal resources and the implications for energy production of the Department of Energy's new strategic plan for research and development. In addition, Dr. Wright will discuss the comparative environmental impacts of geothermal energy;

• Jonathan Weisgall, Vice President of CalEnergy Corporation (CE), will discuss CE's new geothermal energy and mineral recovery facility being built in California's Imperial Valley. This $289 million project will generate electricity to be sold into California's emerging "green" electricity market and produce high quality zinc from the brine used in producing geothermal power, instead of from open pit mines;

• Joe Ronan, Vice President of Calpine Corporation, will discuss Calpine's outlook for the world's largest renewable energy producing facility at The Geyser's in Northern California. With consolidated management under Calpine, and new technology allowing the injection of reclaimed wastewater into the field, this once declining field now holds the prospects for increasing power production into the indefinite future. This technology may be applicable to numerous sites in the West;

• Seth Dunn, Research Associate, Worldwatch Institute, will outline the growth of the world market for renewable energy, geothermal energy as well as discussing related environmental issues;

According to the Energy Information Agency, in 1995 geothermal energy provided 14.7 billion killowatthours of electricity in the US, an amount equal to 24 million barrels of oil and avoiding as much as 8.6 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, non-electric applications (direct heat uses and geothermal heat pumps) provided the electric equivalent of nearly 4.2 gigawatthours of additional energy. The Department of Energy recently adopted a goal of developing new technology by 2010 which would result in geothermal energy providing 10 percent of U.S. non-transportation energy needs in subsequent years.

The briefing is free and open to the public. No reservations are required. For more information, please contact Claire Suen at 202-662-1893.