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Phone: (202) 628-1400

1112 16th St, NW
Ste 300
Washington, DC 20036-4819

www.eesi.org Donate

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Mission

EESI’s goal is to be a catalyst for an energy revolution that moves us away from fossil fuels and towards a clean, safe and secure energy future through our focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy, transportation, smart growth, agriculture and global climate change.  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute’s (EESI) mission is to promote environmentally sustainable societies through transitions to social and economic patterns that sustain people, the environment and the natural resources upon which present and future generations depend.  EESI brings the best science/ technology information, diverse perspectives and policy options that accomplish multiple goals into policy debates on environmental and energy issues.  To accomplish this, EESI educates policymakers; provides credible, timely information; and develops innovative policy solutions through coalition building, media outreach, publications, Congressional briefings, workshops and task forces.

Key Facts

Geographic areas served:

Nationwide

Target demographics:

While primarily focused on Congress and federal agencies, EESI’s wide-ranging participants and partnerships include state and local government, industry, labor, embassies, nonprofits, academia, the media, and the general public.

Results to date:

EESI’s impact can be seen in our successful effect on many policy initiatives over the years and the people who turn to us to learn and become involved.  Our network includes more than 15,000 individuals engaged in energy and climate change.  We produce 3 highly acclaimed electronic newsletters.  Our Climate Change News, BCO: Bioenergy, Climate Protection, Oil Reduction, and Clean Motion e-newsletters reach thousands, including every Congressional office.  Our factsheets, policy papers and other materials are often used by media and other environmental groups to educate their members.

Accomplishments in 2009
• Held over 47 briefings for Congressional staff in 2009 on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate change.  More than 270 Congressional offices attended our briefings in 2009.
• All of our recent brings now have video where anyone can revisit a briefing they may have missed on our website at www.eesi.org/briefings
• This April, EESI’s joint project with the American Planning Association (APA), Planning for a New Energy and Climate Future, launched the “Planners Energy and Climate Database,” an online resource to connect planners, policymakers, and allied professionals with information relevant to addressing energy and climate issues at the local, regional, and state level.
• EESI worked with the Utah Clean Cities Program and National Energy Foundation to develop a free curriculum to help school officials and bus drivers reduce school bus idling. Completed two year forestry initiative in which EESI convened a discussion series with scientists, community groups, foresters, environmental advocates, federal agencies, and other experts to explore the opportunities and problems associated with greater use of woody biomass for energy.  In July 2009, EESI released a new policy paper, Sustainable Forest Biomass: Promoting Renewable Energy and Forest Stewardship, explaining the issues surrounding the current use of woody biomass as a renewable energy resource.Published 10 papers and fact sheets in 2009
• Issued 11 press releases in 2009
• Continued to publish our four acclaimed e-newsletters
• Launched a Facebook page over the summer, bringing our environmental and energy policy information to a whole new community. We post news articles, information from our Congressional briefings, links to publications, and photos.

Goals for Current Year (2010)
• Grow our database
• Find new sources of funding
• Grow our individual donor base by launching our new Clean Energy Champions donor giving program

Direct beneficiaries per year: 15,000 in our network

Indirect beneficiaries per year: all citizens who have a cleaner, more sustainble environmentl

Obstacles:

limited understanding of existing and economical, clean, safe, low-carbon energy technologies; the requests for assistance continue to grow so we need additional staff to respond; a new Congress will mean many new staff in need of reliable information on climate science, renewable energy technologies and policy options.

What your donation will allow us to do:

produce credible, timely information and innovative policy ideas; build coalitions and networks, produce 3 highly acclaimed issue-based electronic newsletters and other publications, and organize Congressional briefings on the issues of energy efficiency and renewable energy, transportation, sustainable communities, agriculture/energy, and global climate change.

Your donation of $60 enables us to:

broadcast fax a Congressional briefing notice (also a mini- fact sheet) to 3,000 interested people

Your donation of $120 enables us to:

provide 2 months of public transportation assistance to one of our many interns (and environmental leaders in training)

Your donation of $176 enables us to:

directly deliver a Congressional briefing notice to every Congressional office

Board Members and Affiliation:

Nancy Bacon, Senior Advisor, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.

Ambassador Richard E. Benedick, Senior Advisor, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL); former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment, Health, and Natural Resources

Rosina M. Bierbaum Ph.D., Dean, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan; served as Acting Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); Directed OSTP’s Environment Division

Jared Blum *, President, Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA)

Quincalee Brown, former Executive Director, Water Environment Federation

Frances S. Buchholzer, former Director, Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Mortimer M. Caplin, Founder and Partner, Caplin and Drysdale; former Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service

Kenneth M. Connolly, Vice President of Government Relations, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; ormer Minority Staff Director for the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee

Gerald Decker, Vice President, Midland Energy, LLC; Chairman Emeritus, Decker Energy International, Inc.

Roger Duncan, General Manager, Austin Energy

Bob Edgar, President and CEO of Common Cause; former General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; ordained United Methodist Church Minister; former Member of Congress (D-PA)

Shelley Fidler, Principal, Government Affairs, Energy and Environmental Policy, VanNess Feldman Attorneys at Law

John Gibbons, Resource Strategies; former Director of the White House Office of Technology Policy

Elliott Laws, Crowell and Moring LLP; former President of Safety, Health and Environment for Texaco Inc.; former EPA Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response

Richard L. Ottinger *, EESI Board Chair; Dean Emeritus, Pace University School of Law; former Member of Congress (D-NY)

Ruth Patrick, Ph.D. Senior Curator, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

Christopher Schepis, Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Roland Burris (D-IL)

John J. Sheehan *, EESI Board Vice Chair; retired Legislative Director, United Steelworkers of America

Claudine Schneider, Independent Consultant; former Member of Congress (R-RI)

* Executive Committee Members

Past and Current Funders:

EESI is grateful for the many foundations, government, businesses, organizations and individuals who support the work of EESI. (List revised May 2009.)

EESI Benefactors

American Public Transportation Association

Austin Energy

Cynthia Chevins Estate

Dr. John W. Flory Foundation

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

EESI Patrons

Berkley Bedell

Coca Cola

Horne Family Foundation

International District Energy Association

Richard and Karen Whitney Charitable Fund

EESI Backers

Spencer Adler

Fran Buchholzer

Sean Levine

Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association

Schmitz-Fromherz Family Fund

Ted and Ruth Johnson Family Foundation

EESI Associates

ACORE

Emily Adhikari

AFS Trinity Power Corp.

Mitch Ahiers

ALLETE/Minnesota Power

American Forest and Paper Association

Galen Andrew

Bialecki Geothermal Drilling

Biomass Power Association

Bob Lawrence & Associates

Jason Brenner

Melisa Degen

Michael Berkenblit

Michael Brower, Senior Federal Policy Director, Mosaic Federal Affairs LLC

Mortimer Caplin

Decker Energy International

Ryan Dickover

Camille Dull

Dunlap and Browder

David Garman

Geothermal Energy Association

Dan Gutman

Jessie Harris

Robert Harris

Hoffman-Brouse Foundation

William Honey

ITOCHU International Inc.

Kenneth Klassen

Oerlikon Solar

Richard Ottinger

Porter Enterprises, Inc.

Jay Sachs

Solar Energy Industries Association

United Nations Foundation

2007/2008 Foundation and Government Funders

American Wind Energy Association

Changing Horizons Fund

City of Austin

Cornell Douglas Foundation

Department of Energy/Utah Clean Cities

Earth Share

Electric Drive Transportation Association

Energy Foundation

The George Gund Foundation

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

National Hydropower Association

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

The New-Land Foundation

The New York Community Trust

North Carolina State University (NCSU) - US Department of Agriculture

Oak Foundation

Ottinger Foundation

Changing Horizons Fund (via Rockefeller Family Fund)

Solar Energy Industries Association

Surdna Foundation (via American Planning Association)

United States Energy Association

US Fuel Cell Council

United States Geological Survey

Wallace Genetic Foundation Inc

Water Environment Federation

Whole Systems Foundation

Worldwatch Institute

A portion of EESI’s financial support comes from its membership in Earth Share, a federation of publicly supported environmental and conservation charities. Earth Share seeks to expand the financial support and the involvement of people, particularly at the workplace, to advance its affiliates’ efforts to protect public health and welfare and to conserve natural resources for future generations.

Key Staff

Carol Werner, Executive Director

Ellen Vaughan, Policy Director

Description

Protecting the climate by educating Congress, developing innovative solutions, and building broad coalitions to move America to efficient and renewable energy for a sustainable future.

Programs

---Agriculture and Energy--- Agriculture can contribute substantively and politically to any climate change mitigation strategy. Enormous opportunities exist for developing rural America's clean energy resources, including bioenergy (the production of electricity, useable heat, or liquid fuels from biomass), wind, solar, and energy efficiency. Yet there exists a tremendous knowledge gap among policymakers, farmers, and other key stakeholders about these opportunities. EESI seeks to educate policymakers about the potential economic development, energy security, and environmental benefits of tapping these resources. This requires building alliances between rural and urban policymakers by demonstrating that both constituencies stand to benefit from renewable energy development. ---Energy and Climate Change--- EESI's Energy and Climate Program supports policy changes that will mitigate climate change while reaping the environmental, economic, and public health benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Use of fossil fuels results in significant air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global climate change. There are enormous opportunities for change that can make our country healthier, safer, and more secure through the development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. The goal of the Energy and Global Climate Change program is to make policymakers aware of not only the problems but also of the many possible solutions that can lead to a more environmentally sustainable society. EESI is developing a focus on green buildings because buildings are the source of signified greenhouse gas emissions. ---Transportation--- EESI's Transportation Project works to expand the deployment of buses using cleaner fuels and advanced vehicle technologies to mitigate the negative effects of diesel emissions and oil use. EESI established and manages a Clean Transportation Network to promote communication and coordination between clean bus stakeholders and to showcase clean bus projects. EESI's Transportation Network consists of more than 900 stakeholders from the transportation industry, academia, state/local/federal agencies, the public interest sector and Congress. EESI also works to promote other clean transportation options, most specifically flexible fuel plug-in hybrid vehicles as key leader in the National Plug-in Partners Campaign. ---Smart Growth and Energy--- EESI's Sustainable Communities program seeks to encourage "energy smart" smart growth, combat urban sprawl and promote sustainable community development. EESI is working in partnership with the American Planning Association to educate planners about how they can incorporate energy and climate concerns into their work. EESI assists the development of energy-smart growth and facilitates greater collaboration between smart growth professionals and those involved with energy efficiency and green building design. ---Congressional briefings--- EESI holds more than 20 highly regarded Congressional briefings each year. Held on Capitol Hill, EESI's briefings are open to the public and attract thousands of people each year. Experts from industry, academia, government agencies, the public interest sector, and Congress are brought together to provide diverse perspectives on cutting edge technology, environmental, and energy policy issues. Congressional forums create issue visibility and play a unique and vital role in the policy process. Strategically timed briefings can spur hearings, connect people and organizations, develop Congressional leadership and affect policy positions.