C2ES President Bob Perciasepe submitted a letter to the House Space Science and Technology Subcommittee on Energy in support of four bills that will help advance technologies critical to addressing the challenge of climate change.

See the letter as a PDF.

February 12, 2020

Representative Lizzie Fletcher
1429 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Representative Randy Weber
107 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

RE: Advancing legislation to accelerate low-carbon innovation

Dear Chairwoman Fletcher and Ranking Member Weber,

I write on behalf of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) to express our strong support for four bills before the House Science Space and Technology Subcommittee on Energy that will help advance technologies critical to addressing the challenge of climate change: H.R. 2986, H.R. 4230, H.R. 5374, and H.R. 5428.

C2ES is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works closely with leading U.S. companies to strengthen efforts to address climate change. We, and the companies we work with, believe strongly that robust federal support for technology innovation is a critical component of a comprehensive strategy to achieve a vibrant, sustainable zero-carbon economy. In a collaborative effort with companies, we recently released Getting to Zero: A U.S. Climate Agenda, which outlines federal, state, and local policies needed over the coming decade to put the United States on the path toward carbon neutrality by 2050.

The four bills before the Subcommittee align very closely with several of the recommendations contained in Getting to Zero:

• H.R. 2986, the Better Energy Storage Technology Act, would establish a research, development and demonstration program within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity for grid-scale energy storage systems. H.R. 2986 also requires DOE to conduct a strategic planning exercise and identify performance targets for this critical suite of technologies, and prioritizes long-duration energy storage, which will play a pivotal role in decarbonizing our energy system.
• H.R. 4230, the Clean Industrial Technology Act of 2019, would enhance the competitiveness of U.S. industry by supporting research that will help develop innovative, low-carbon industrial processes, boost efficiency, enable cost-effective electrification and encourage fuel switching—all key strategies for decarbonizing the industrial sector. Importantly, H.R. 4230 would also provide for demonstration projects that can validate new, low-carbon technologies.
• H.R. 5374, the Advanced Geothermal Research and Development Act of 2019, would authorize research funding for a suite of technologies that can enhance our ability to harness geothermal energy—a reliable, low-carbon, baseload energy technology. In addition to the establishment of field offices to develop and validate advanced geothermal techniques, H.R. 5374 would establish an initiative to demonstrate enhanced geothermal systems that have significant potential to help decarbonize the power and industrial sectors.
• H.R. 5428, the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019, would support the development of technologies that can integrate zero-carbon electricity generation, storage and distribution systems into the electric power grid. It would also establish a regional demonstration initiative to enable integration of electric vehicles, commercial and residential demand response technologies and other hybrid energy systems that can boost efficiency and reduce emissions.

This suite of bipartisan bills can not only help advance a key set of technologies we need to decarbonize our economy, but would also contribute to the growing momentum for comprehensive action on climate change. We applaud the efforts of the Energy Subcommittee in advancing these important bills, and urge the full Committee to take them up as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Bob Perciasepe
President
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

CC: Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Representative Frank Lucas