House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

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Categories: US House Committees | Committee Themes - Energy

House Committee on Science and Technology
House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Members, 110th Congress
Democrats:	Republicans:
Nick Lampson(CA), Chair Lynn C. Woolsey (CA) Jerry F. Costello (IL) Daniel Lipinski (IL) Gabrielle Giffords (AZ) Jerry McNerney (CA) Mark Udall (CO) Brian Baird (WA) Paul Kanjorski (PA)	Bob Inglis (SC), Ranking member Roscoe Bartlett (MD) Judy Biggert, (IL) W. Todd Akin (MO) Randy Neugebauer (TX) Michael T. McCaul (TX) Mario Diaz-Balart (FL) Ralph M. Hall (TX), ex officio

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Committee Page
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1 Hearings
2 Signed into law
3 Passed House
4 Bills scheduled for debate
5 Introduced bills
6 External links

Hearings

All hearings and markups on the democratic website.

Current Hearings

Mar 14, 2007: Climate Change and Energy Security: Perspectives from the Automobile Industry

Official page (webcast available)

News reports: Washington Post, ABC News

Feb 28, 2007: A Review of the Administration's Energy Proposals for the Transportation Sector

Official page DailyKos diary

IPCC Report on Climate Change

Official press release

Prepared witness statements

News reports: Denver Post, McClatchy newspapers

H.R. 547

Jan 30, 2007 Advanced Fuels Infrastructure Research and Development Act - PDFs of prepared statements

Report from earthtimes.org

H.R. 547 was recommended by the subcommittee for the debate in the House (see markup transcript).

H.R. 547-110 — To facilitate the development of markets for biofuels and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel fuel through research and development and data collection.: February 17, 2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Previous Hearings

Archived hearings

From the committee page: September 20, 2006 - Subcommittee on Energy - Hearing - Department of Energy's Plan for Climate Change Technology Programs

August 2, 2006 - Subcommittee on Energy - Field Hearing - Renewable Energy Technologies – Research Directions, Investment Opportunities, and Challenges to Commercial Application in the United States and the Developing World

June 5, 2006 - Subcommittee on Energy - Field Hearing - Assessing Progress in Advanced Technologies for Vehicles and Fuels

April 6, 2006 - Subcommittee on Energy - Hearing - Assessing the Goals, Schedule and Costs of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership

Plug-in vehicles hearings

May 17, 2006 - Subcommittee on Energy - Hearing - The Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Act of 2006 (Discussion Draft)

Transcript

Interesting points: [Lithium-ion batteries require more research to be successfully used in cars. Specifically, they have to be larger that the ones we are currently using for cell phones and laptops (which means they are going to be heavier, adding 175 to 500 pounds to vehicle weight); be able to survive continuous cycles of complete drain and temperature extremes for about 15 years (the average vehicle life). A Honda manager even said that until improved batteries can be developed, there is little need to assess customer acceptability or conduct vehicle demonstration projects.

City of Davis has already passed an ordinance that every new construction garage has to have an EV-charging plug in the garage.

A typical battery charger for a plug-in hybrid will draw about 1400 watts of power from a 120 volt outlet and be active for about two to eight hours per day. This is roughly equivalent to an electric space heater. Several analyses by EPRI or the DOE estimate the energy demand of plug-in hybrids, even at 50 percent market penetration, at between four and seven percent of total U.S. electricity demand. By 2050, total U.S. electrical demand is projected by the EIA to grow by almost 100 percent, 200 million plug-in hybrids (with an equivalent of 20 miles of electric range), driven and charged daily by their owners, would be responsible for approximately four to seven percent of this growth.

At University of Alaska, each parking spot already has an electric plug, necessary for block heaters in -50F weather.

Signed into law

Committee page

Passed House

H.R. 6203: Alternative Energy Research and Development Act

Bills scheduled for debate

H.R. 1640: Energy Policy Act of 2005

H.R. 5656, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial Application Act of 2006, which has been added to the House agenda ("Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 352."). (House Record)

I'll start by looking at SEC. 10. PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM of that bill.

It proposes for each year between 2007 and 2001 to a) give $250,000,000 to Department of Energy for plug-in hybrid car research, and b) spend $50,000,000 on "25 grants to State governments, local governments, metropolitan transportation authorities,", possibly in partnership with one or more private entities, to find the cheapest, most efficient and least emitting plug-in hybrid car. The Secretary of Energy will determine the grant amount, but they expect the amounts to decline as the technology improves.

What I don't quite like is this, in reference to the grants: "The Secretary shall establish mechanisms to ensure that the information and knowledge gained by participants in the pilot program are shared among the pilot program participants and are available to other interested parties, including other applicants." Why not just say that the resulting information should be publicly accessible?

Introduced bills

H.R. 5538: Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Act of 2006

External links

Energy Information Administration - Responses to Congressional requests

House Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittees:
Energy and Environment • Environment, Technology, & Standards • Research • Space & Aeronautics • Science Oversight & Investigation

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This page was last modified 20:28, 24 March 2007 by simonf@simonf.com. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.