Thursday, February 21, 2019 – 4:00-6:00pm
Down Home Kitchen, 100 Main St, Montpelier
Join us for the conversation at 4pm followed by a happy hour from 5:15 to 6:00.
The Leveraging Change Speaker Series continues with a timely conversation about policies that can produce both economic benefits and carbon reductions in and for Vermont. Join Energy Action Network and Rich Cowart from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) to discuss how carbon reduction policies can provide economic benefit for all Vermonters. Click Here for a Recap RSVP by filling out the form to the right.
We understand that meeting Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions commitments requires a wholesale change in our energy system. That systemic change will require policies that span the economy and change the way we get around, power our appliances, and heat and cool our buildings. What do those policies mean for Vermonters? How are Vermonters impacted by growing renewable technology adoption?
Join us on February 21st from 4:00-6:00pm at Down Home Kitchen in Montpelier (100 Main St) to learn more about RAP’s research into the full costs and benefits of investing in the energy solutions that will help us meet our emissions commitments. RSVP on the right hand side of this page!
The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)® is an independent, non-partisan, non-governmental organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to a clean, reliable, and efficient energy future. RAP is made up of are former utility and environmental regulators, industry executives, system operators, and other policymakers and officials with extensive experience in the electric power sector. The team focuses on the world’s four largest power markets, responsible for half of all power generation: China, Europe, India, and the United States.
Richard Cowart has deep experience on state and national energy and environmental issues in the U.S., across Europe, in China, and several other nations, with a particular focus on climate policy for the past decade. He launched and directed RAP’s Europe program from 2009-2018 and serves on RAP’s Board of Directors. He served for a decade on the Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency’s demand-side management program, and was appointed to three terms as chair of the Electricity Advisory Committee of the United States Department of Energy. His recent work focuses on power markets, climate policy, and energy efficiency programs throughout Europe.
A highly-experienced regulator, Mr. Cowart served as commissioner and chair of the Vermont Public Service Board from 1986 to 1999. He was elected president of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners and chair of the U.S. Regulators’ Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment. He also served for four years as chair of the National Council on Competition and the Electric Industry, the association of the state and federal officials and legislators responsible for power sector reform in the United States.
Mr. Cowart has worked closely with industry as a member of the Board of the Electric Power Research Institute, and now serves on the Environmental Advisory Committee of the New York Independent System Operator and is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.
Mr. Cowart was previously assistant professor and director of the Program in Planning and Law at the University of California (UC), Berkeley (1980-85), and executive officer and general counsel of the Vermont Environmental Board (1978-80). He received his bachelor’s degree from the Honors College at Davidson College and his juris doctor and master of city planning degrees from the UC Berkeley, where he was editor-in-chief of the Ecology Law Quarterly, a leading journal of environmental law and policy.