Thursday, May 7, 1998
3:00 - 4:30 pm, 1539 Longworth House Office Building

You are invited to a briefing on the role of federal energy research and development in the search for the energy that will power the next century. The briefing is particularly timely, since Congress is currently considering the fiscal year 1999 spending bills for energy research and development (R&D).

The briefing will focus on the November 1997 report by the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), entitled Federal Research and Development for the Challenges of the 21st Century. The report found that improvements in energy technologies are needed to maintain domestic economic prosperity, environmental quality, national security, and our current world leadership position in science and technology, and that an enhanced national R&D effort will be required to meet these needs. More specifically, the study found that current energy R&D programs are especially inadequate to meet the challenge of responding cost-effectively and responsibly to increased risk of global climate change from emissions of greenhouse gases.

Speakers at the briefing will be:

• John P. Holdren, Chairman of the PCAST Energy Research and Development Panel and the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University, who will present the major findings of the PCAST report;

• R. James Woolsey, of Shea & Gardner and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who will address the relationship of energy R&D to national security concerns; and

• Harlan Watson, staff director of the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.

The PCAST panel of 21 members, representing a diverse group of respected academics, utility and industry representatives, recommended a $1 billion increase, over a five year period, in the Department of Energy's annual applied energy-technology R&D budget. The report goes on to recommend that the largest share of increased energy R&D funding should be focused on improved and expanded energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Consistent with this report, the Administration's FY 1999 budget calls for $1.2 billion in funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, a substantial increase over last year's appropriation of $980 million. Without a shift of appropriations towards such technologies of the future, PCAST argues that the United States could lose its current leadership status in the development and deployment of energy technologies.

Expanded energy R&D, as recommended by the PCAST report, is of critical importance in meeting energy-related challenges of the 21st century. Energy R&D, particularly in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, will help address other energy-related issues including national security as it relates to dependence on oil imports, reduced air and water pollution, and expanded exports of energy technologies.

The briefing is open to the public and requires no reservations. For more information contact EESI at 202-662-1886.