On November 11, EESI Executive Director, Carol Werner gave a presentation at the the Iowa Energy Center’s Speaker Series in Quad Cities, Iowa. Her presentation, Energy: Why Our Choices Matter, covered the problems and opportunities presented by a changing climate, changing public attitudes and perceptions on climate change, and why there is incredible momentum in the political, religious, social, energy and business sectors for global action on climate.

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EESI Policy Associate Jessie Stolark spoke at the annual Statewide Wood Energy Team Conference in Oregon on October 28, 2015. She discussed what the Clean Power Plan means for states, what role biomass could play in the Clean Power Plan, and what role biomass is already playing in state-level Renewable Portfolio Standards. 

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EESI Executive Director Carol Werner spoke at a Congressional Biomass Meeting on October 21, at the request of the office of Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (NH), who co-chairs the Congressional Biomass Caucus. Carol highlighted the environmental and economic benefits of biomass power (particularly in rural communities), and its role in Clean Power Plan compliance.

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EESI Policy Associate Laura Small provided testimony at a September 23 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing in Dallas, Texas, on the EPA's proposed air rules for new and modified sources of methane in oil and gas operations. 

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EESI Policy Associate Jessie Stolark participated in a Biomass Magazine webinar on July 16, entitled "Readying for the Clean Power Plan." Jessie discussed the basics of the Clean Power Plan, how it will be promulgated under the Clean Air Act, and the basics of the Plan's Biogenic Carbon Framework. Her presentation also detailed what states are already doing to use biomass resources for electricity, what the federal landscape looks like for biomass power beyond the Clean Power Plan, and what's happening on Capitol Hill on biomass utilization.

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EESI Policy Associate Jessie Stolark spoke at a Third Way presentation on Capitol Hill entitled "Advanced Biofuels: Why We Want Them, How We Get Them" on July 15. Her presentation discussed how the Renewable Fuel Standard categorizes biofuels based on potential greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, and how these GHG reductions are measured by the Environmental Protection Agency for various fuel types and refining processes—both for current and potential feedstocks. She also touched on the GHG profile of fossil-based transportation fuels and some of the potential health impacts of fossil transportation fuels.

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EESI Policy Associate John-Michael Cross gave a presentation as part of the webinar “Tools for Co-ops to Advance Energy Efficiency and Renewables” hosted by Clean Energy Ambassadors on April 8, 2015. The presentation, entitled "Opportunities through the USDA Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program", describes a relatively new USDA loan opportunity for rural utilities looking to reduce energy waste. The presentation goes on to explain how the USDA loans can be used to start on-bill financing programs, in which utilities pay for a customer's home energy upgrades and are then repaid through a monthly charge on the recipient's utility bill. 

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EESI Policy Associate Laura Small gave a presentation entitled "Policies to support Grid Integration of Renewable Energy: Cases and Renewable-Grid Synergies," as part of a joint Global America Business Institute (GABI) and Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) workshop on December 16, 2014.

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EESI Executive Director Carol Werner gave a presentation entitled "Connecting the Dots: Climate Change, Organics Recycling, Renewable Energy," at the BioCycle East Coast 2014 Conference, held by BioCycle on October 28, 2014, in Ellicott City, Maryland.

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EESI Policy Fellow Jessie Stolark gave a presentation at the Midwest Energy Policy Conference, held by the Missouri Energy Initiative from September 30 to October 1, 2014, in St. Louis, Missouri.

In her presentation, entitled "The Value of Biomass in State Renewable Portfolio Standards," Jessie Stolark explained that biomass resources, especially waste resources, have an important role to play in state energy planning. Waste resources, like organics and landfill waste, waste water treatment, manure, food industry waste, wood and agricultural wastes can be utilized as both electricity and liquid fuels while also providing valuable co-products such as fiber, compost and fertilizers.

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