First Stop - NREL

This afternoon my House colleagues and I toured the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Essentially, we got to take a stroll through our nation’s energy future and I’ve got to say, the lab is doing absolutely incredible work.

The lab’s purpose is to find fresh renewable ways to power our homes, businesses, and cars, a key component of the Republicans’ All-of-the-Above energy plan. They are developing cutting edge methods to use wind, solar, biomass, and fuel cell technologies more efficiently.

What I was most impressed with was the work that the lab is doing with a variety of vehicles run by renewable energy including: Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles, and Solar Hybrid Electric Vehicles. We also investigated the programs of Wind to Hydrogren Technologies and received an overview of the Lab’s Biomass Technologies.

America's priority must be to lessen its dependence on foreign sources of oil. They only way we will achieve true energy independence is to combine the latest technologies from NREL and similar government and private sector labs throughout the country with increased domestic exploration of our own natural resources.

We’ve got a long plane ride ahead to Alaska. I’ll be sure to check in again to share with you what I learn in ANWR.