During my time as Ranking Member of the House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Energy, I held an Energy Subcommittee Field Hearing with Chairwoman Judy Biggert at the San Jose, CA City Hall Council Chambers. The hearing addressed the potential of renewable energy technologies to reduce dependence on foreign energy sources, lower the cost of energy to consumers and boost American international competitiveness. Five experts in the field testified at the hearing:
* Dr. Steven Chu , the current Secretary of Energy. At the time of the hearing, Dr. Chu served as Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is the 1997 Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
* Dr. Arno Penzias , Venture Partner with New Enterprise Associates in Palo Alto, CA While at Bell Laboratories he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1978. Today he is a venture capitalist with interests in renewable energy technologies.
* Christian Larsen , Vice President for Generation for the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, CA. His division provides data on cost and performance analyses and for renewable, distributed, and hydropower energy generation technologies to the electricity industry.
* David Pearce , President and CEO of Miasolé, a Santa Clara, CA based company that manufactures industrial-scale solar products using thin film solar cell technology developed in Department of Energy national laboratories.
* Ron Swenson, cofounder of ElectroRoof, a solar equipment installation company, and EcoSage, an educational services company developing a program to build solar-powered satellite teaching centers in remote areas of the world in conjunction with solar education programs in schools.
You can view the webcast of the hearing. To read the hearing charter and complete texts of witness testimony, please visit the U.S. House Committee on Science.