Hill Heat

With energy and environmentalism weighting heavily on the minds of all Americans, The New Republic will be hosting a two-part discussion series at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. This series will allow convention attendees a rare opportunity to engage with policy leaders and key innovators at the forefront of the energy and environmental debate. The series is open to all convention attendees and within walking distance to the Denver Convention Center and surrounding hotels.

• Carl Pope, Executive Director, The Sierra Club
• Representative George Miller (D-CA)
• Representative Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
• Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE)
• Matt Bennett, Vice President for Public Affairs, Third Way
• Brian F. Keane, President, SmartPower
• Ted Nordhaus, Chairman, The Breakthrough Institute; Co-author, Break Through
• Cass R. Sunstein, Harvard University Law Professor and Author, Risk and Reason: Safety, Law, and the Environment
• Franklin Foer, Editor of The New Republic, moderator

Tattered Cover Book Store, 16th & Wynkoop, Denver

Facilitator: Vijay Vaitheeswaran

Introduction: The Government’s Role in the New Energy Economy

• Sen. Jeff Bingaman
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer
• Rep. Ed Markey
• Gavin Newsom
• Greg Nickels
• Federico Peña
• Gov. Bill Ritter Jr.
• Sen. Ken Salazar

Topic Expansion: Corporate and Community Initiatives in the New Energy Economy

• Dan Arvizu
• Mark Falcone
• Van Jones
• Carl Pope
• Jon Ratner
• Rhone Resch
• Heather Stephenson

Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, CO

Sir Nicholas Stern delivers the Climate Change Roundtable keynote.

Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, CO

Moderator: Ray Suarez

Introduction: Three Carbon Sources

• Robert A. Hefner III
• Dick Kelly
• Steven Leer
• Andrew Liveris
• Fred Palmer

Topic Expansion: Addressing the Economic Constraints

• William S. Becker
• Carol Browner
• Jerome Ringo
• Tim Wirth

Topic Expansion : Challenges and Opportunities

• D. James Baker
• Rep. Richard Gephardt
• Kevin Knobloch
• David Lester
• Sen. Claire McCaskill
• Michael Northrop
• Randy Udall

Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, CO

Moderator: Rick Stengel

Introduction: Practical Examples of the Business Impact

• Dan Hendrix
• Mike Kaplan
• Dr. Jeff Kenna
• Rose McKinney James
• Dan Reicher

Topic Expansion: Resources for Business Leadership

• Frances Beinecke
• Leo Gerard
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar
• Ira Magaziner
• Navin Nayak
• John Podesta
• Dan Sperling

Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, CO

The Politico’s Jeanne Cummings reports that the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is spending $2 million at the Democratic National Convention on billboards and street teams to promote the coal industry:

The Democrats are mighty proud of the “greening” of their convention. Recycling will be celebrated, as will bicycling and a whole host of other environmentally sound practices.

Amid the glow from all that global warming warfare enters the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Yep, those fellows have got guts.

The coal coalition, a nemesis to many environmentalists, plans to spend $2 million on advertising in and around the Denver convention venues, promoting the virtues of clean coal.

It will also be doing “experiential advertising,” meaning the group will put people on the streets to actually talk to conventioneers about the role coal could play in future energy policy.

The street teams will also be handing out city maps with blurbs inserted about the importance of the coal-based electricity industry and ongoing research into capturing and storing carbon emissions from those plants.

“We started this conversation with policymakers and the American public in 2000,” said Joe Lucas, the coalition’s vice president of communications. “We’ve significantly turned up the volume on that conversation in the last year.”

And the coalition figured, what better place to go to continue that conversation than at the conventions?

In billboards and other ads, the coalition will argue that the coal-based electricity industry can help keep jobs at home, reduce costs for consumers and — with more research — find its own tidy spot in an environmentally cleaner energy future.

“Clean coal means the next president won’t have to choose between the economy and the environment,” concluded Lucas, adding that both Barack Obama and John McCain already see coal in the nation’s future energy industry.

This will be the coalition’s first appearance at the two political conventions. But Denver is clearly the group’s best shot at a breakthrough moment.

EnergyPlus—DOE’s building energy simulation program—includes many building energy-simulation features that previously have not been available together in a mainstream program. Features include variable time steps, configurable modular systems integrated with a heat balance-based zone simulation, on-site power, hybrid natural/mechanical ventilation, and under-floor air distribution (UFAD). The underlying heat balance load calculation method is included in the 2005 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Fundamentals. In 2007, DOE began working on a plug-in for Google’s SketchUp software, which Google describes as “3-D for everyone.” SketchUp is used by a majority of architects during early design to facilitate studies of shape and massing. The Energy Design Plug-In integrates EnergyPlus with SketchUp, allowing easy evaluation of building energy performance. This presentation, by Drury Crawley of EERE, introduces EnergyPlus and its simulation methodologies, capabilities, utilities, and interfaces that facilitate using it.

Drury B. Crawley is acting team leader for the Commercial Buildings area of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. He leads DOE’s team that is working to achieve net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. He also is responsible for managing DOE’s building energy software tools research and development activities including EnergyPlus, Energy Design Plug-In, and DOE-2, among others. He has more than 30 years of experience in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability for buildings; and is active in ASHRAE, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the American Institute of Architects. He serves on the editorial boards of three international journals, has published more than 100 papers and articles, and has given more than 175 presentations throughout the world.

901 D Street SW (adjacent to the Forrestal Building) or 370 L’Enfant Promenade. Ninth Floor. Please contact Wanda Addison, of Midwest Research Institute (MRI), at wanda_addison@nrel.gov or 202-488-2202

BMW, Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Nissan, Toyota, and VW will showcase their latest hydrogen vehicles. Rides will also be available from 12 – 3pm.

The Hydrogen Road Tour is a two-week trip across the U.S. with more than 30 planned stops beginning on August 11 to showcase clean, efficient, hydrogen powered cars. The tour, organized by the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Hydrogen Association, and California Fuel Cell Partnership, seeks to highlight progress made with the development of hydrogen vehicle and fueling technologies. Hydrogen, in addition to biofuels and hybrids, is one of many options that can play an important role in our future energy portfolio. Among these options, hydrogen can make the greatest long-term impact on reducing pollution and fuel imports from vehicles.

999 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024. (Between 9th ST and 12th ST SW, across from the DOE Forrestal Building and in front of the Smithsonian Castle).

From the Associated Press:

A Bush administration proposal that would eliminate the input of independent government scientists in some endangered species reviews would be tossed out if Democrat Barack Obama wins the White House, his campaign says.

“This 11th-hour ruling from the Bush administration is highly problematic. After over 30 years of successfully protecting our nation’s most endangered wildlife like the bald eagle, we should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it,” said Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro. “As president, Senator Obama will fight to maintain the strong protections of the Endangered Species Act and undo this proposal from President Bush.”

A spokesman for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, said he had no comment on Bush’s revisions.

The Associated Press reported Monday details of a proposal by the Interior and Commerce departments that would change how the 1973 law is implemented, allowing federal agencies to decide for themselves — without seeking the opinions of government wildlife experts — whether dams, highways and other projects have the potential to harm endangered species and habitats.

Current law requires federal agencies to consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service if a project poses so much as a remote risk to species or habitats.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne defended the changes in a call with reporters Monday, calling them narrow modifications to make the law more clear and efficient.

In recent years, both federal agencies and developers have complained that the reviews, which can result in changes to projects that better protect species, have delayed work and increased costs.

The proposed regulations, which will be published Thursday in the Federal Register, included one significant change from the earlier draft: The public comment period was cut in half, from 60 to 30 days.

“In this case, it was determined that we need to move forward in a timely fashion,” said Interior Department spokeswoman Tina Kreisher.

If the proposal should become final by November, a new administration could propose another rule, a process that could take months. Congress could also pass legislation, but that could take even longer.

An aide for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said that panel would hold a hearing on the rule changes when Congress returns in September.

The League of Women Voters is calling for a moratorium on all new coal plants. In the words of national League President Mary G. Wilson, “Global warming is happening now.” She argues that Congress is failing its mission:

If we wait for federal action from our congressional leaders, it will be too late. We must take immediate and aggressive action to halt climate change. Burning more coal is too big a risk for too many people. Coal is the single largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S., with power plants responsible for 33 percent of CO2 emissions. Because of this pollution, we already face increasingly severe heat waves and droughts, intensifying hurricanes and floods, disappearing glaciers and more wildfires. If left unchecked, the effects will be catastrophic to us and our planet.