Energy Bill Contains IEEE/IEEE-USA Provisions

[andre kesteloot]

The Clean Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6), recently-passed comprehensive energy legislation, contains two items of particular interest to IEEE and IEEE-USA. The first (Section 131 of Subtitle B) authorizes $95 million in competitive grants on a cost-shared basis to state and local governments, metropolitan transportation authorities, or private or non-profit entities in order to encourage the use of plug-in electric drive vehicles or other emerging electric vehicle technologies.  Also included in this section are provisions to develop a nationwide electric drive transportation technology education program, which will include an electric vehicle competition and financial assistance to colleges to create new or support existing degree programs to ensure the availability of trained electrical and mechanical engineers to work on plug-in electric or other forms of electric drive transportation vehicles. Additionally, Section 1301 of Title XIII, calls for the National Institute of Sta!
 ndards and Technology to solicit input from IEEE and other organizations in developing protocols and standards for the nascent Smart Grid technology for the nation’s electricity grid. This specific mention of IEEE was a result of technical consultation provided by representatives of IEEE's SCC21 to House Science Committee staff members on the development of Smart Grid Standards, meetings which were facilitated by IEEE-USA.