Kathy Castor: “My amendment focuses on thermal energy and combined heat power, which are essential to a smart energy future for our…”

“My amendment focuses on thermal energy and combined heat power, which are essential to a smart energy future for our country, but they are often overlooked components of our national energy supply. In the United States, up to 36 percent of the total energy produced is lost from power plants, industrial facilities, and buildings in the form of waste heat. My amendment will help industry, universities, hospitals, and others capture that waste heat and use renewables for heating, cooling, and power generation. Now, I want to read the definition of what is included in renewables so that everyone is aware: biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, ocean energy, organic waste, photosynthetic processes, photovoltaic energy, solar energy, and wind. What is happening across America are businesses and nonprofits are getting really smart about this wasted energy and they are putting it back into their facilities to save energy and save money. The overall resilience and cost savings that can be achieved through combined heat and power and distributed energy systems is proven every day, but it was especially proven during Superstorm Sandy and other natural disasters. During Superstorm Sandy, businesses and nonprofits, such as hospitals and universities, were able to keep the lights on and actually had heat and water in the aftermath of the storm because they have these self- contained, energy-efficient waste heat projects. Mr.…”