Alliance President Kateri Callahan on E&ETV: Energy in the Next Administration

On November 18, Alliance President Kateri Callahan was interviewed for a ten-minute segment on Energy & Environment TV's (E&ETV) OnPoint show to discuss her take on what the incoming Obama Administration will mean for energy efficiency. She addressed how clean energy and efficiency can be incorporated into the next stimulus package, as well as how the credit crunch has affected efficiency projects. A partial transcript of the interview follows. The complete interview is available on the E&ETV Web Site.

Monica Trauzzi: Kateri, on the campaign trail President-elect Barack Obama spoke a lot about building a sustainable energy future and he spoke a lot about clean energy. Now the actual work begins. What are you looking for him to do in his first few months in office in order to get energy efficiency and clean energy off the ground?

Kateri Callahan: Well, we're hopeful that he's going to deliver on his campaign promises to make energy, clean energy, a centerpiece and a first priority as he takes office. And we have every reason to believe he's going to do that. We're excited, Monica, because if you look at his new energy for America platform, the bedrock of it is really energy efficiency and he cites it, and I quote, "as the cheapest, quickest, fastest way to meet our growing energy demand and to tackle climate." So I know he's going to have a lot on his plate. We've got an economic stimulus we have to do. We've got energy issues looming and, of course, climate. But if you look across all of those sectors energy efficiency has a very important piece to play and it furthers all his goals for the economy, for energy security and for the climate. So, we're looking for really good things and a lot to happen under President-elect Obama and the new Congress.

Monica Trauzzi: What opportunities exist specifically in an economic stimulus package on the energy efficiency front?

Kateri Callahan: Well, if you look at it from President-elect Obama's package of what he wants to do on the new energy future, he can create a lot of jobs through energy efficiency. He has called in this package for weatherizing a million homes a year. And if we began that as an economic stimulus package we would create jobs for people in weatherizing those homes and we would also be helping low and modest income families to pay their heating bills this winter. So it would be a win-win for the economy in that regard. Also, looking at public education and outreach and under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, there was a massive public information and outreach program, $90 million a year for five years to teach consumers and empower them to save, both on the road and in their homes in terms of energy costs. We'd like to see him fund that. It's already authorized to put funding into it to help draft purchases of more efficient equipment, and energy efficiency upgrades to the home....Just do the stalled projects and the projects under way, and you're looking at $50 million to a billion dollars a year. That's going to create a lot of jobs. You could look at doing efficiency upgrades, helping states to do efficiency upgrades to their own facilities. You could invest as much as maybe $2 billion a year doing that and, again, save billions more in avoided energy costs. So, there are all kinds of things that he could do that fit within his energy plan, but would also drive our economy.

Monica Trauzzi: How are efficiency projects being impacted by the lack of capital that exists right now because of the financial crisis?

Kateri Callahan: I think, as with anything, it's difficult to find capital. It's difficult to find investment funds. So I think that's having an impact. I only have anecdotal information at this point in time, but I think it is something that we're very concerned about and one of the reasons that, in an economic stimulus package, we would like to see funds made available to state governments to do work, to public institutions like schools to be able to make upgrades. We want to make sure that the money to invest is there for the upfront capital costs because, again, over the course of time, those are going to pay for themselves well over.

The complete interview is available on the E&ETV Web Site.

Launched in 2005, E&ETV is a web-based video production with a studio on Capitol Hill. The OnPoint show features in-depth interviews and analysis designed for energy and environmental policy professionals. Total viewership is approximately 15,000 and includes congressional staff, local and foreign governments, energy companies, think tanks, media, and associations. E&ETV is produced by the publishers of ClimateWire, Energy & Environment Daily and GreenWire newsletters.