SPEA faculty host to energy conference in D.C.

This week in our nation’s capital, a group of diverse energy specialists will develop new ideas on how we can form and use the energy we require every day.

The IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs will be host to a national conference of experts to discuss changing energy policy in the Obama administration Thursday.

“The Search for Wise Energy Policy” will occur 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The forum will feature four separate panel discussions: energy policy drivers, changing patterns in energy supply, changing patterns in energy demand and use, and climate policy. The panelists and moderators were chosen from experts from leading energy and environmental businesses, research institutes and academia, including three SPEA faculty members and dean.

The school is having the event to give authorities in the energy field an opportunity to publicly analyze the policies of the past and form fresh ideas to use while the new administration forms its plans on newer and better methods of energy production, distribution and use.

“At this early stage of a new administration, the window is open for helping shape the direction, tenor and substance of energy policy,” said John Graham, SPEA dean, in his welcoming address to the conference. “Although energy policy development is inherently complex and risky, opportunities exist for identifying the key issues, for discussing alternative solutions and their measurable impacts.”

The Obama administration has stressed the importance of changing the energy policies of the past and how energy policy ties in with economic policy. Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package included more than $60 billion in clean energy investments to improve the development of renewable energy, create environmentally conscious jobs and pay for research grants to develop better forms of energy storage.

President Obama has publicly spoken about his desire for the United States to end its economic dependency on foreign energy sources and also about the environmental importance of renewable energy – both topics on the agenda for the conference.

“We can remain one of the world’s leading importers of foreign oil,” Obama said in a March 19 speech, “or we can make the investments that would allow us to become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy.”