Hill Heat

18 – 20 September 2007, The University of Chicago Gleacher Center, Chicago

Carbon finance experts estimate that the global carbon market is now worth over $27 billion. Financial giants along with Fortune 500 companies, utility & energy companies, fund managers and regulatory bodies are cashing in on the lucrative concept of carbon finance. Carbon Finance World 2007 has been developed to examine the emerging opportunities in this new global market. This conference will provide attendees with countless business development and networking opportunities, real investment prospects and an action plan for profitable growth.

The 2008 legislative session is only 5 months away. Do know what you need to do to save the climate?

You need to get COLD, the Climate Organizing Leadership Development. Starting in September the Chesapeake Climate Action Network will kick off an advanced global warming activist training series designed to empower new climate leaders in Maryland, DC and Virginia.

The training series will feature expert speakers, guest trainers, and will provide you with the valuable skills that you need to become the lead climate organizer in your area. The COLD trainings will capitalize on the years of experience of some of the most respected organizers in the region to help give you the insider information that you need to stand up to even the most powerful of foes.

Trainings will be located in Baltimore, Richmond, Falls Church, and Washington DC. There will be five trainings in all, once a month from September to January 08.

For more info on the DC trainings, email: [email protected] or apply here.

For more info on the Baltimore trainings, email [email protected] or apply here.

For more info on the Richmond trainings, email [email protected] or apply here.

For more info on the Northern Virginia, email [email protected] or apply here.

A Conference: Health Consequences of Global Warming: Examining the Links; Breaking the Chains

Friday – Sunday September 14 – 16, 2007

Hotel Veto Conference Center 201 S. Linn St Iowa City, IA

Jointly sponsored by: The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and Physicans for Social Responsibility, in cooperation with the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, Global and Regional Environmental Research, and College of Public Health.

Introducing the Challenge: Halting Climate Change Addressing Health and Human Rights Links

• Introducing Climate Change Science and Wedges, Jerry Schnoor PhD
• Introducing Human Rights Issues, Burns Weston LL.B, JSD
• Introducing Public Health Concerns, Jim Merchant MD PhD

7:00 PM Dinner Speaker:

• Michael McCally MD PhD, Executive Director, National PSR, Challenge of Global Warming to Preserving Global Health

8:00 PM Concurrent Roundtables

1. Redefining Security, Catherine Thomasson MD
2. Introducing Student Groups’ Responses to Global Climate Change
3. How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. Film, Maureen McCue MD PhD
4. Faith Based Responses to Goobal Warming, Mark Kresowik & Lynn Heuss
5. Invoking the Precautionary Principle, Carolyn Raffensperger JD
6. UNA Process on Global Warming, Katy Hanson, Kate Karchay, Douglas Taylor PhD & Jerry Schnoor PhD

Saturday, September 15

9:00 AM Opening Keynote

• Michael A. McGeehin PhD MSPH, Climate Change, Myriad Threats to Global Health: From Malaria Movement & Complex Disasters to Failing Food Production

9:45 AM Plenary Panel II

Linked Threats to Health and Environment: Current Energy Sources

• Health Threats of Auto-Centered Cities, Catherine Thomasson MD
• Ports, Trade & Transit: Health Threats to Workers, Neighborhoods, and the Global Climate, Andrea Hricko MPH
• Nuclear Power’s Insurmountable Risks, Arjun Makhijani PhD

11:30 AM Plenary Panel III

Collateral Damage: Overlooked Health Costs of Disasters

• Disasters–Loss and Mental Health–Challenge, Curt H. Drennen PsyD
• Disasters–Challenges to Maintaining Research and Care, Tyler Curiel MD MPH
• Unstable Climate–Challenges to Global Food/Water Security, Douglas Taylor PhD

1:15 PM Luncheon Speaker:

• Michael Klare PhD, Blood and Oil–Further Dangers and Consequences of Dependency on Petroleum

2:15 PM Concurrent Roundtables

1. “Low Carbon Diet”– Food Production with Low Carbon Emissions, Rich Pirog
2. Consumption, Denial, and Fear, Fred Myer MA and Carolyn Raffensperger JD
3. Iowa’s Uniquely Unhealthy Energy Options (Coal, Bio-fuels, Nuclear), Mark Kresowik BA, Alana Stamas, and Michele Kenyon Brown
4. Healthy Sustainable Businesses–Incorporating Environmentally Friendly Practices, Peter Barnes MA, Fred Kirschenmann PhD, Geoff Willming, Matt Bulle
5. Environmental Ethics, Voluntary Initiatives vs. Legal Imperatives to Heal Our Planet, Burns Weston LL.B, JSD and Andy Jameton PhD
6. War, Global Warming, Public Health, and Opportunity Costs, Victor Sidel MD and William Hartung

3:30 PM Plenary Panel IV

Global Warming, Health and Human Rights Links

• The Arctic Bellwether–Impact of Energy Extraction, & Use on Health and Human Rights of World’s Indigenous, Marginalized & Poorest, Donald Goldberg JD
• Healthcare of Poor, Minorities, Marginalized Before, During, After Katrina, Ravi Vadlamudi MD

4:30 PM Plenary Panel V Halting and Reversing Global Warming: Affordable, Attainable, Sustainable Solutions

• Promoting and Attaining a Healthy, Rights Based Paradigm, Michael Dworkin JD
• Confronting Coal, Bruce Nilles JD

8:00 PM Concurrent Workshops

1. Concerned Scientists, Health Care Providers, Arjun Makhijani PhD and Catherine Thomasson MD
2. Student Groups—Student PSR, AMSA, ESW, Global Pulse Leader
3. Concerned Business Leaders, Peter Barnes MA, Fred Kirschenmann PhD, Geoff Willming, Matt Bulle
4. Faith Based/Religious Leaders, Ben & Cathy Webb, others
5. Law Makers, Rights Based, Andy Jameton RN PhD, Carolyn Raffensperger JD, and Ed Fallon BA
6. Indigenous Peoples, Minorities, Labor, Mike McCally MD PhD, Ravi Vadlamudi MD MPH, and Dan Holub JD

Sunday, September 16

9:00 AM Opening Inspirational Remarks

• Imperatives of Tikkun Olam, Gerald Sorokin
• Cool Congregations–Compelling Commitments, Rev. Ben Webb

9:30 AM Closing Keynote

• Peter Barnes MA, Introducing the Sky Trust to Protect the Atmosphere

10:15 AM Plenary Panel VI

Good News: Cases of Humane Healthy Living Through Sustainable Energy

• How the West Coast is coming Clean & Green, Catherine Thomasson MD
• Cool Cities, Mark Kresowik BA and Frank Cownie (invited),
• UCS, Assessing the National Legislative Frontier: The Good Bad, and Nonexistent, Rich Dana

11:30 AM Plenary Panel VII

Developing Coalitions, Learning from Others, Working Together Toward a Healthy, Secure, Sustainable Future, Saturday Workshop Leaders Report Results & Consult Audience Members

The International Forum on Globalization, The Institute for Policy Studies, and The Project on Economic Transitions will hold a teach-in on September 14-16.

The event will cover various topics including:

• Climate Change
• Peak Oil (The End of the Era of Cheap Energy)
• Global Resource Depletion (And Species Extinction)
• Powering-Down for the Future (Toward an International Movement for Systemic Change: New Economies of Sustainability, Equity, Sufficiency and Peace)

60 SPEAKERS INCLUDING: Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, Michael Klare, Martin Khor, Richard Heinberg, Winona LaDuke, David Korten, John Cavanagh, Jerry Mander, Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke, Wolfgang Sachs, Sara Larrain, Meena Raman, Ross Gelbspan, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Frances Moore-Lappe, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Daphne Wysham, Victor Menotti, Atossa Soltani, David Suzuki, Simon Retallack, Jeremy Leggett, Arjun Makhijani, David Pimentel, John Passacantando, Rob Hopkins, Steve Kretzmann, Antony Froggatt, Randy Hayes, Anne Leonard, Megan Quinn, Thomas Princen and 25 more.

The Teach-In will be held at Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington DC.

Tickets and information are available from: International Forum on Globalization 415-561-7650

Witnesses

Panel 1

• The Honorable Alexander Karsner, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

Panel 2

• Kyle Pitsor, Vice President of Government Relations, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
• Mr. Steven Nadel, Executive Director, American Council for an Energy-Efficent Economy

Coverage from Bloomberg:

The world’s three largest lighting companies, long at odds over a way to eliminate inefficient incandescent light bulbs in use for 125 years, now favor Senate legislation (S. 2017) over a House-passed measure [H.R.2751, Sec. 9021 of H.R.3221] some say will outlaw all but the spiral-shaped compact fluorescent bulbs.

Royal Philips Electronics NV in Amsterdam, the world’s largest light-bulb maker, Munich-based Siemens AG and General Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, support a bill introduced last week by Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat.

The measure would phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2014 and replace them with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs, and higher efficiency lights. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs, held a hearing on the plan today.

The House bill would require a further improvement by 2020 in efficiency that industry representatives do not support because they say it would rule out bulbs they are developing to meet the 2014 standard.

“If you tell us that the products we have to spend millions of dollars bringing to market in 2014 will become obsolete in 2020, it’s very difficult for a company to go to their shareholders and say that’s an investment worth making,” said Randy Moorhead, vice president of government affairs for Philips Electronic North America, a division of Royal Philips.

House and Senate aides said today they hoped to reconcile differences in the proposals in negotiations on energy legislation, which currently is bogged down in Congress.

Business meeting to consider

• S.127, to amend the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000 to explain the purpose and provide for the administration of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge,
• S.327 and H.R.359, bills to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites associated with the life of Cesar Estrada Chavez and the farm labor movement,
• S.868, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Taunton River in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System,
• S.1051, to authorize National Mall Liberty Fund D.C. to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia at Constitution Gardens previously approved to honor free persons and slaves who fought for independence, liberty, and justice for all during the American Revolution,
• S.1184 and H.R.1021, bills to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resources study regarding the suitability and feasibility of designating certain historic buildings and areas in Taunton, Massachusetts, as a unit of the National Park System,
• S.1247, to amend the Weir Farm National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1990 to limit the development of any property acquired by the Secretary of the Interior for the development of visitor and administrative facilities for the Weir Farm National Historic Site,
• S.1304, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Arizona National Scenic Trail,
• S.1329, to extend the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission, to provide improved visitor services at the park,
• H.R.807, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the feasibility and suitability of establishing a memorial to the Space Shuttle Columbia in the State of Texasand for its inclusion as a unit of the National Park System, and
• H.R.759, to redesignate the Ellis Island Library on the third floor ofthe Ellis Island Immigration Museum, located on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, as the “Bob Hope Memorial Library”

San Francisco, 11-12 September 2007

As the GHG market transitions from voluntary trading to compliance with state (and surely soon federal) requirements, projections are that the annual global volumes of GHG credits will increase from $21.6m (2006) to reach $60 billion and may eventually top $1 trillion.

This unique meeting will bring together the leading US and International experts together for two days of intense, information rich presentations, debates and networking. Understand how one of the World’s largest future commodity markets will develop and impact upon your business.

Speakers

• Commissioner Jeffrey Byron, California Energy Commission
• Terry Tamminen, Energy & Environmental Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger
• Allen Alley, Deputy Chief of Staff, Governor’s Office, State of Oregon
• Richard Saines, Partner, Baker & McKenzie, USA
• Veronique Bugnion, Managing Director, Point Carbon, USA
• David N. Reschke, Noble Carbon Credits, Canada
• Ian Carter, Policy Coordinator, North America, International Emissions Trading Association IETA, Canada
• Thomas D. Peterson, Executive Director, The Center for Climate Strategies, USA
• Angus Duncan, Oregon Carbon Allocation Task Force, USA
• Doug Scott, Chair, Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group, USA
• Josh Bushinsky, Western Policy Coordinator, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, USA
• Gia Schneider, Vice President, Credit Suisse, USA
• Imtiaz Ahmad, VP, Morgan Stanley, UK
• Blake Schaefer, Director, Global Environmental Finance, Stark Investments
• Roger Williams, VP – Portfolio Development, Blue Source
• Marc Stuart, Co-founder, Director of New Business Development, EcoSecurities
• Barbara McKee, Director CSLF, Chair IEA Working Party on Fossil Fuels & Director of Clean Energy Collaboration, DOE, USA
• George Peridas, Science Fellow, Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Arthur Lee, CSLF Stakeholder; Principal Advisor, Global Policy & Strategy, Chevron, U.S.A
• Len Eddy, Managing Director, Agcert International, Canada
• David B. Layzell, President and CEO, BIOCAP Canada Foundation, Canada
• Richard A. Birdsey, Program Manager, Global Change Research, USDA Forest Service
• Doug Wikizer, Chief Environmental Protection and Regulations, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, USA
• Lisa Jacobson, Executive Director, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, USA
• Nathan Clark, Director, Offset Projects/Economist, Chicago Climate Exchange, USA
• Ricardo Bayon, Director, The Ecosystem Marketplace
• Cameron Brooks, VP – Resource Development, Renewable Choice Energy
• Mike Bess, General Manager North America, Europe and Africa, Camco International, UK
• Meg Gottstein, Administrative Law Judge, California Public Utilities Commission
• Ned Helme, President, CCAP, Center for Clean Air Policy, USA
• Frank T. Princiotta, Director of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USA

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to learn about the most recent developments in concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies and how this fits into the energy bills and conference committee coming before the Congress this fall. CSP plants produce electric power by concentrating the sun’s energy into high-temperature to drive conventional steam turbines or engines or directly into electricity via high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) cells. The recent Western Governors’ Association (WGA) Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative Solar Task Force Report projects that the installation of 4,000 MW of CSP capacity in the United States, primarily in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, would lower the price of CSP to that of fossil fuel generation The resource potential of the southwest is very much larger than 4,000MW

Large, credible, and financially strong developers have entered the market and are reducing the risk associated with CSP projects. For example, Pacific Gas and Electric recently signed a 25-year contract for the output of a 553 MW CSP plant that is to be built in California’s Mohave Desert where 354 MW have been in operation since the 1980s. CSP is ideal for utilities as it is most economical in large (100MWs) sizes, can utilize thermal energy storage to match peak demand periods and offer dispatchability, and, with transmission built up, it can scale up rapidly to meet the Southwest’s growing electricity demand.

CSP is clean, non-polluting, and has no carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. It can serve intermediate and peak load, and provides reliable domestic energy. CSP provides energy diversity and reduces pressure on natural gas demand, thereby lowering natural gas prices and acting as a hedge against electricity price fluctuations. CSP investments pay back in jobs, tax revenue, and gross state product (GSP) increases. CSP electricity costs will reduce over time through economies of scale and advancements in R&D.

Panel

• Dr. Fred Morse, Senior Adviser, US Operations, Abengoa Solar, Inc.
• Kate Maracas, Managing Director, Energy Resources, Inc.
• Barbara Lockwood, P.E., Manager, Renewable Energy, Arizona Public Service Company
• Joshua Bar-Lev, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Bright Source Energy

While CSP holds great promise, technology supporters say federal and state policy measures are needed to help scale up production and lower costs. Long term extension of existing incentives is critical to getting plants built and maintaining the necessary momentum. For serious CSP expansion, utility ownership must be an option, making the current utility exclusion from the investment tax credit (ITC) a barrier to CSP. Section 103 of the House-passed energy bill (HR 3221), extends a 30 percent ITC for solar energy property by eight years, from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2017. It also removes the utility exclusion provision from the ITC, and authorizes $2 billion in new Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBS). The Senate-passed version of the energy bill (HR 6) does not contain these tax provisions, although they were part of the Finance package reported by the Senate. As the energy bill goes to conference, policy support is required to realize the benefits of CSP for America. Decisions made by the conference committee on the energy bill could have a major effect on the future of CSP in the United States. It should be noted that other countries are moving forward on large-scale solar technologies.

This briefing is open to the public and no reservations are required.

For more information, contact Fred Beck at 202-662-1892 ([email protected])

As Congress turns its eye toward global warming legislation this fall, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will host Governor Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, the CEO of American Electric Power, and other experts for a hearing exploring how to maintain coal as part of the energy mix for America and the world, while avoiding dangerous global warming. Chairman Markey and the rest of the Select Committee will learn about advanced coal technologies like carbon capture and storage, and how a framework for cutting emissions could affect the development and deployment of this technology and the future of coal-fired power plants.

Witnesses

• Governor Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming
• Michael Morris, Chairman and CEO, American Electric Power
• Carl Bauer, Director, Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory
• David Hawkins, Director, Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate Center
• Robert Sussman, Partner, Latham & Watkins, LLP
• Stuart Dalton, Director for the Generation Sector, Electric Power Research Institute

On Wednesday, September 5, 2007 the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science and Technology will hold a hearing to receive testimony on the use of coal to produce liquid fuel, the status of coal-to-liquid (CTL) technologies and what additional research, development and demonstration programs should be undertaken at the Department of Energy or other agencies to better understand the benefits and barriers to converting coal into transportation fuels.

The Subcommittee will hear testimony from six witnesses who will speak to a range of policies that warrant consideration before moving forward with the advancement of the production of synthetic transportation fuels from coal. Policies for consideration include carbon dioxide management, infrastructure improvements, water usage, energy security, energy balance of CTL technologies (energy used and produced), exhaust emissions, options for using coal with organically derived feedstocks to produce liquid fuels, coal production requirements, potential outcomes for consumers, and the appropriate level of federal investment in CTL technologies. They also will discuss the technical and economical challenges with meeting any desired policy objectives as well as the benefits and drawbacks of investing federal resources in CTL technologies.

Witnesses * Dr. Robert L. Freerks, Director of Product Development Rentech Corp., Denver, CO. He will speak to the state of development of CTL technologies using the Fischer-Tropsch process. He will highlight the benefits of the commercialization of the FT process and discuss some of the challenges.

• John Ward, VP, Marketing and Governmental Affairs Headwaters, Inc. South Jordan, Utah. He will discuss the growing global demand for oil and the need to explore alternative liquid fuel options using the nation’s abundant coal reserves. He will review the local and global economic benefits as well as the national security and environmental benefits.
• Dr. James Bartis, Sr. Policy Researcher RAND Corp., Arlington, VA . He will address economic and national security benefits of CTL technology as well as the technical challenges for addressing the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the CTL process. He will also provide suggestions for federal activities needed to address the uncertainties surrounding CTL technology.
• David G. Hawkins, Director, Climate Center at Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC. He will speak to the environmental concerns associated with the adoption of CTL technologies – in particular, the “well-to-wheel” emissions of these new fuels and the impact on global climate change. He will also address other energy strategies which still rely on coal, but help to reduce our nation’s carbon dioxide footprint at the same time.
• Dr. Richard D. Boardman, The Secure Energy Initiative Head, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID. He will discuss water resource management related to the production of liquid fuels from coal. He will also address the potential for producing liquid transportation fuels using coal with organically derived feedstocks.
• Dr. Joseph Romm, Center for Energy & Climate Solutions; Center for American Progress; former Acting Asst. Sec at Department of Energy during the Clinton Administration, Washington, DC. He will address the environmental policy considerations related to advancing CTL technology. He will focus on the role of CTL technology in a world with greenhouse gas constraints.