Converting DOE Building To Solar Power

This week we introduced a bill to make the Department of Energy’s headquarters building run on solar power. The legislation was offered by Eleanor Holmes Norton who chairs the Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Emergency Management, Rep, John Mica, the Ranking Republican of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and myself. Since I chair the full T&I Committee I would say this bill has a pretty good chance of passing.

This is exciting legislation for a few reasons. First it is bipartisan. Rep. Mica and I have a chance to work across party lines on a project that helps make America less dependant on foreign energy and fossil fuels. This is the kind of cooperation that the voters told us they want to see is last November’s election.

The federal government owns and operates 900,000 square feet of office space, and projects like this can show the private sector how new alternative energy technologies can save money. The photovoltaic cells that will be installed in this pilot project can run everything in the DOE’s building from lights, to escalators, to computers and there will be energy left over to send back into the electric grid. This is proven technology that should be applied on a larger scale.