OVERSIGHT NATIONAL SOLAR ENERGY POLICY THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1979 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND Washington, D.C. The subcommittees met at 9:30 a.m, pursuant to notice, in room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Albert Gore, Jr., presiding. Mr. GORE. The subcommittees will come to order. Chairman Ottinger and Chairman Dingell are unable to be here until later this morning. Chairman Ottinger has asked me to open this joint hearing of Energy and Power and Energy Development and Applications Subcommittees. The subject today is our national solar energy policy. Last week we heard from a number of distinguished witnesses who addressed some of the major issues confronting us as we contemplate a transition to renewable energy resources. Yesterday the President presented the Congress and the American people with some new policies and programs and a challenge. He asked us to work together to meet the goal of providing 20 percent of our energy needs from renewable resources by the year 2000. I applaud this goal and am encouraged by the Federal commitment as expressed in the new policy. It is now our job, both here in the Congress and around this country, to follow through to see that the new programs are implemented and to improve upon them as necessary. In reviewing the President's message, I am particularly pleased with his recognition of the potential of the Tennessee Valley Authority to serve as a showcase for the accelerated use of solar technologies. TVA has been developing an aggressive program in the areas of conservation and solar energy and the President's recognition of its role as a model for the Nation is most appropri ate. While I am encouraged by the leadership which has finally been exhibited by the President, my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered by the delay until fiscal year 1981 for an increase in the budgetary commitment to solar energy and the similar delay in funding the Solar Development Bank. This is clearly an area where the Con gress can continue to demonstrate its interest in, and commitment to, solar energy by strengthening the proposal made yesterday by the President. I would like to recognize my colleage from New York, Mr. Fish. Mr. FISH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased that we have scheduled a second day of hearings on our national solar energy policy. As you have indicated, these hearings come at a most appropriate time, as the President just yesterday made a major statement on our future solar activities. I believe that the development of an effective and aggressive solar energy program is essential if we are to ever reach our goal of energy independence. One of the main issues to be addressed in our hearings is the Government's role in solar development activities. It has been encouraging to me to hear about the great prospects for tapping our Sun's resources, and we must make sure that our Federal programs allow us to do so. I am particularly pleased to see the witnesses from the Department of Energy with us today. On numerous occasions we have been told that there is a need for the Federal Government to make a firm commitment to the development of solar energy. I hope that the installation of a White House solar system is only the beginning of this commitment. In his statement yesterday, the President set a goal of nearly a 20-percent energy contribution from solar, including hydropower and biomass, by the year 2000, but with a firm commitment, I think, that solar could play an even bigger role in the future. Along these lines, I hope we will hear from the Department of Energy on what progress has been made in making this firm commitment and, even more, what Congress can do to accelerate the development of our solar resources. Unfortunately, I find nothing new in the President's remarks. Left out was a call for any additional solar R. & D. While a goal was stated, a firm commitment was lacking. No program was spelled out to attain the goal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to make these remarks. I welcome the witnesses, and look forward to their testimony. Mr. GORE. Thank you, Mr. Fish. We are going to have two panels this morning. Then this afternoon we will hear from the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation in the Department of Energy, Mr. Alvin Alm. I will call on my colleague, Mr. Wirth, from Colorado. I just want to associate myself with Mr. Fish's comments in all but one way. He said that the administration had made, I believe, "a major policy statement just yesterday." I would change that to have the record say "policy statement." I am not sure that it was the kind of major statement that many of us were hoping we might receive. Mr. FISH. Will the gentleman yield? I will amend it to the "purported major statement." Mr. WIRTH. I agree with the comments of the gentleman from New York. I would only hope that the members of our panel this morning would also be able to comment on the statement yesterday, if they had a chance to review that, and give us their comments on it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. GORE. Thank you, Mr. Wirth. Our first panel is made up of Mr. Tony Adler with the Solar Energy Industry Association, Mr. Ralph Wilham of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and Mr. Joseph Dawson with Grumman Energy Systems, Inc. Gentlemen, welcome to all of you. Without objection we will put the entire text of your prepared statements in the record. I would invite you to proceed with any or all of your statements as you see fit. Mr. Wilham, if you would like to go first. PRIVATE SECTOR IMPACTS-ANTHONY ADLER, SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION; RALPH WILHAM, SHEET METAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, ACCOMPANIED BY WALTER COSEL, SOLAR CONSULTANT; RONALD PETERSON, GRUMMAN ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC. Mr. WILHAM. Mr. Chairman, the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association welcomes this opportunity to address this joint subcommittee hearing on the subject of solar energy. Our association's commitment to solar is a long-standing one. We are not unfamiliar with the U.S. Congress: We have testified before various committees proclaiming solar's viability as an energy source; we have lobbied for the passage of pro-solar legislation; we have worked side by side on solar with the staffs of several of you who sit before us now. We are not unfamiliar with solar's academic world; we have published numerous articles, made speeches and presented papers advancing state-of-the-art solar technology. For example, last month we presented a paper in Atlanta at the International Solar Energy Society's Silver Jubilee Conference; we have a paper in this just-published Energy Technology VI, the printed proceedings of February's Sixth Energy Technology Conference, held in this city. And we have signed an agreement with New Mexico State University that merges our technical know-how with the university's wellrespected research and development capabilities. These activities notwithstanding, the SMWIA is a labor organization, and our solar commitment has not only been on paper, but also on the job. Members of our local unions across the country have installed solar systems for uses in heavy industry, agricultural installations, and residential dwellings. Members of our local unions have sought and obtained grants from the DOE and HUD small grants programs. Perhaps most important, our union has issued a guarantee of the labor performed by its members in solar installations. This guarantee calls on the Nation's financiers and contractors to join those of us who perform the labor in instilling public confidence in solar energy and in trampling the myth that solar energy is an exotic technology of the future. These activities only skim the surface of our organization's efforts to expedite the public's acceptance of solar. We have made 54-948 0 - 80 - 13 these efforts because we have been convinced for many years that solar heating and cooling can be a wise investment. Our Nation's current energy situation, however, transforms solar energy from an economic benefit to a national necessity. We can no longer tolerate the instability that dependence on foreign energy brings: instability based on military uncertainties, trade deficits, economic chaos, and unemployment. Of all of these tragedies, perhaps unemployment is the one that our union has fought hardest to alleviate. In March of 1978 the SMWIA testified before the Joint Economic Committee's Subcommittee on Energy, chaired by Senator Kennedy, on the relationship of jobs and energy. The message of our testimony and the tone of those hearings in general was clear: The myth that energy conservation causes unemployment must be laid to rest. The converse is true: Jobs may be created by the proper energysaving measures. A congressional study, prepared for the JEC, released on April 21 of this year, predicts that by 1990, 3 million jobs would be created and the costs of conventional fuels would be reduced $120 billion if the United States would undergo a major shift from fossil fuels to solar energy.-"Employment Impact of the Solar Transition," prepared for the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, April 6, 1979. The industry that would grow around solar energy is a laborintensive one. One of DOE's own consultants has come to some startling conclusions on this subject. For example, "For the same amount of energy, solar heating systems generate 2 to 8 times more direct jobs than conventional powerplants."-"The Job Creation Potential of Solar and Conservation: A Critical Evaluation,' U.S. Department of Energy, Policy and Evaluation, Advanced Energy Systems Policy Division; November 26, 1978. Furthermore, most solar devices can be manufactured from inexpensive materials often using small and relatively uncomplicated equipment readily available in the United States. Trained installers within the heating and cooling industry would engage in much direct, on-site labor. Thus it is important to add the benefit of vast employment possibilities to the long list of solar energy advantages. Perhaps the subcommittees could take the opportunity of DOE's Assistant Secretary of Energy Alvin Alm's presence here later this afternoon to explore this matter of employment, particularly along the lines of labor impact analysis statements that were mandated by legislation following the JEC hearings of last March. Mr. Alm at that time stated these impact analyses were "good counsel and we will follow it," but to our knowledge none of these has been prepared at this time. Witnesses have appeared before this joint committee session advancing the necessity of the Federal Government's whole-hearted support of a national solar energy policy, a policy that would satisfy at least 20 percent of the Nation's energy needs by the year 2000. We wholeheartedly concur with these statements and believe that cost-effectiveness need not be the primary standard by which solar systems are judged. This belief, however, is not an unlimited license to spend money on solar programs that are inefficient and wasteful. The money |