Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearing on renewable technologies

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing last week on opportunities for innovative energy solutions to reduce domestic and global greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who chairs the committee, noted that emissions have declined substantially in the last decade for a variety of reasons – including flat demand growth, low cost natural gas, and the declining costs of renewable technologies.

“The opportunity we have in front of us is to foster an innovation ecosystem here in the United States that can lead to breakthroughs that deliver cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy,” Murkowski said. “Our National Labs and universities, as well as the private sector, are developing technologies that could be deployed not only here at home, but also around the world to reduce emissions – whether advanced nuclear, carbon capture, utilization and storage, energy storage, or a technology that is just starting to show its potential.”

Murkowski highlighted some of the work being done by communities in her home state to transition to renewable energy sources.

“Alaska is feeling the impacts of climate change, but our communities are making strides to responsibly reduce their emissions,” Murkowski said. “Igiugig, a village with a year-round population of about 70 people, is installing a turbine system that will create emission-free electricity using river currents. The City of Kodiak generates nearly all of its electricity from renewable resources, including hydropower and wind. And in Southeast, the Haines Brewing Company is going to add more solar to their facility to power more of their beer production.”

A challenge, Murkowski said, is commercially deploying these technologies.

“Innovation is a priority, but we can’t reduce emissions on just technology. We need deployment,” she said. “I look forward to working with my committee colleagues to continue this dialogue and determine how Congress can facilitate deployment and unleash these technologies to market.”

This was the second hearing on the subject held by the committee, which plans to hold a series of technology-specific hearings in the months ahead.