Clean Energy Town Hall

It seems like a lot has happened since my last post. Lot's of meetings, door-knockings, family parties, the Oscars, etc.

One of the meetings which I attended was a Clean Energy Town Hall held at North County High School. It was energizing (pun intended) to be with so many dedicated environmentalists. These were people who knew what the problem was and were working on fixing it.

For instance Dave Wooley-Wilson runs the Green Building Institute in Jessup, Maryland. This institute trains people to conduct energy audits and how to increase household energy efficiency. Energy efficiency may sound boring, but it can eliminate the need for any new power plants.

Several speakers discussed the recent initiatives to increase green power with solar credits, rebates on energy efficient appliances and the ability to choose green power. I have to confess that I just learned about my ability to choose a power provider other than BGE and I'm looking into it. My family has also been able to take advantage of the solar tax credit in 2009 with our new solar water heating system.

The current legislative focus is on passing HB522. Essentially we have different parts of the Maryland government pulling in different directions. One agency is pushing for cheap, reliable power and another agency is pushing for reducing emissions. This bill is an attempt to get all the agencies to push in the same direction.

Protect the future of clean air. Vote Chiappelli.