The role of public policy in the production and consumption of energy is a major challenge facing governments, private institutions, and consumers. Laws, regulations, and subsidies have the power to dictate how energy sources are priced, what the development costs are, and how to fund the necessary infrastructure. Domestic policies also have far-reaching implications, as competition for resources continues to increase across industries and geographic regions. Given this limited supply and number of potential alternatives, how involved should governments be in this process? What should the role of policy be in determining the winners and losers of the future energy profile?
Central questions to be answered:
- How will public policy transition domestic consumption away from traditional oil and gas?
- Should the role of energy policy be to tax, subsidize, both, or neither?
- What are your thoughts on the Natural Gas Act? Is Natural Gas the future?
- How does environmental policy fit into the development of alternative energy sources? (Fracking regulations, air quality issues)
- At what point should the free market determine costs and pricing? (Balance between gov’t and free market)
- How do partisan politics factor into the equation?
Moderator
Mary Pietrzyk, GWU Elliott School MA Student and Manager of Planning and Policy Research at the Nuclear Energy Institute
Mary Pietrzyk is a second year student 
at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, pursing a MA in International Affairs and Development with a concentration in energy and the environment. Mary also has worked for over 5 years at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the DC-based policy organization for the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry. In her current role in the Policy Development division at NEI, Mary leads NEI’s strategic planning process. She also works on developing unified industry policies and communicating those policies to key stakeholders. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Mary received her B.A. from Loyola University Chicago in History and International Affairs. She also spent a year studying at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center in Rome, Italy.
Speakers
Chris Corcoran, Policy & Partnerships Team, Opower
Chris Corcoran works with Opower’s Policy and Research Team,
which is focused on expanding energy efficiency programs by developing market-based clean energy solutions. Partnering with government agencies and other efficiency businesses, Opower is committed to promoting energy efficiency as our nation’s clean, affordable energy. Prior to joining Opower’s Policy Team, Chris was a founding member of Opower’s Marketing Team, helping to develop the company’s sales approach, product pricing, and Smart Grid vision. Chris joined Opower from the strategy consulting firm Katzenbach Partners, where he worked in the Houston Office, serving primarily oil, natural gas, and electricity clients. Chris received a BA in Government from Harvard College.
Alan Hegburg, Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS
Alan Hegburg is a senior fellow in the CSIS Energy and National Security Program. Prior to joining CSIS, he served for 17 years in the U.S. Departments of State and Energy, most recently as deputy assistant secretary for international energy policy in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the Energy Department. In that position, he directed analytical, energy policy, and representational work covering the Eurasian land mass (including Russia, the Baltics, and Ukraine), Central Asia, the Caspian and the Caucasus, the Middle East, Africa, and certain multilateral organizations. The office’s responsibilities also included global energy market developments; domestic political, economic, and strategic factors influencing the global energy economy; making policy recommendations on international energy security issues; promoting U.S. commercial interests internationally; and participating in bilateral and multilateral agreements.
At the Department of State, Mr. Hegburg served in the Europe and Asia Bureaus and internationally in Germany and Paris, the latter on assignment to the International Energy Agency. In the private sector, he spent 17 years at Phillips Petroleum, Amoco, and BP as manager of international government relations and director of international and geopolitical analysis. He has participated in international exploration and production negotiations involving investment opportunities in Asia, Russia, the Caspian, the Middle East, and Latin America. Mr. Hegburg has taught graduate courses on the geopolitics of energy at George Washington and Columbia Universities and lectured at other universities. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
Katherine Gensler, Director, Regulatory Affairs, Solar Energy Industries Association
Katherine heads SEIA’s work on solar financing, permitting of solar power plants and federal renewable energy procurement. She also serves as the staff liaison to the Utility-Scale Solar Power division. Previously Katherine spent six years at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, both in Washington, D.C., and in Folsom, Calif., where she advised the Commission on electricity and natural gas policies, particularly the redesign of market rules governing electricity sales in California and the West. She holds her Masters of Public Affairs from Indiana University and her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.
Katherine is a member of the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment and the Junior League of Washington. In her spare time, Katherine runs half-marathons, hikes and cheers for her beloved Wisconsin Badgers.
Scott Sklar, President, The Stella Group
Scott Sklar runs a clean energy technology
optimization and strategic policy firm, The Stella Group, Ltd, which he founded in 1995 and came on full time to lead in 1999. The firm facilitates clean distributed energy projects for commercial, industrial and military applications. – specializing on blending technologies and financing for projects, as well as assisting companies to scale-up market penetration with a focus on standardized, modular, web-enabled, and interoperable systems.
He serves on the Boards of Directors of three national non-profits: Business Council for Sustainable Energy (climate change), Renewable Energy Policy Project (energy analysis), and The Solar Foundation. He also serves as Steering Committee Chairman of the Sustainable Energy Coalition, composed of the 20+ national energy efficiency and renewable energy industry organization, advocacy groups, think tanks, and environmental groups.
Sklar has coauthored two books, “The Forbidden Fuel: A History of Power Alcohol, published in 1985 which is updated and was updated and re-released in 2010 by University of Nebraska Press, and a “Consumer Guide to Solar Energy” first published in 1998 and is in its third publishing.
