Conservatives for Clean Energy (CCE) Virginia co-hosted with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) a workshop on clean energy for Virginia legislators. The two day event held in Harrisonburg, Virginia brought together influential legislators from both parties that currently sit on the Commerce & Labor committee to learn more about the clean energy economy and ways to help grow clean energy in the Commonwealth. The event was in collaboration with the Center for New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University where former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter serves as the executive director.
CCE moderated the opening panel with Governor Ritter and Delegate Kilgore. The panel theme was “Bi-partisanship in Energy Policy — the Nexus Between Clean Energy and Economic Opportunity.” CCE shared their most recent polling data with legislators demonstrating the wide public support from across the Commonwealth and across political ideologies for advancing clean energy policies.
Topics presented during the workshop included:
- Economic Benefits of Clean Energy – how building a clean energy economy can contribute to economic growth and transition in impacted communities.
- Trends in Energy Policy and Emissions – national trends in energy policy and national and regional trends in emissions.
- Energy Storage and Renewables – Valuing energy storage in the regulatory environment, cost effectiveness of energy storage, trends in technology, and trends in renewables (net metering, off-shore wind, solar, agriculture, etc.)
- Energy Efficiency and Electrification – A Look at Virginia in the region, and barriers to efficiency and opportunities to advance efficiency policies.
- Transportation and Clean Energy – Increasing use of electric/zero emission vehicles, expanding charging stations and infrastructure, and the role of the SCC and utilities in supporting emissions reductions in the transportation section.
Conservatives for Clean Energy looks forward to working with the legislators from the workshop to continue to advance clean energy in the Commonwealth.