WASHINGTON, Wednesday, February 6, 2008—The U.S. Government today announced that four members of President Bush’s Cabinet will participate in the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008), scheduled to take place March 4-6, 2008, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, and Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Stephen Johnson are scheduled to address WIREC 2008, the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energy, following events in Beijing in 2005 and Bonn in 2004.
“The presence of these cabinet members will be a great addition to an already world-class group of speakers and presenters during the three day ministerial-level meeting,” stated Thomas C. Dorr, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development. “WIREC 2008 is promising the best of civil society, government, and business from around the world to address the benefits and costs of a major and rapid scale-up in the global deployment of renewable energy technology.”
Leaders from around the world will address such topics as the benefits of large-scale renewable energy deployment on energy security; climate change; air quality and economic growth; multiple policy options and best practices that encourage and enable accelerated renewable energy up-take; and advancing the networks and partnerships to explore and initiate renewable energy projects.
WIREC 2008 is comprised of a Ministerial-level meeting co-located with the Trade Show at WIREC 2008 and Business Conference, both organized by the American Council On Renewable Energy and 14 domestic and international renewable energy trade associations. For information about Official Side Events at WIREC 2008, please visit: http://www.americanrenewables.org/about_official_side_events.cfm.
To view the list of confirmed speakers for WIREC 2008, visit: www.wirec2008.gov