Welcome

Public Policy Virginia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation focused on changing the energy culture of the Commonwealth through grass-roots communication to promote policy change. PPV recognizes climate change as the single most important issue we face today, and to address that issue, we research, analyze, and communicate the facts about energy issues to policymakers and their constituents to influence the institution of progressive, beneficial ordinances, laws, and standards which will help us to make the changes necessary to deal with this issue.

We are ready to provide speakers for your group on any of our issues and related matters. Please e-mail info@ppvir.org further information and scheduling. If you are not sure whether we have an expert in your area of interest, you can reach us using our form or the information on our contact page and we will be happy to talk with you about it.

New at PPV

PPV Launches COMMUNITY POWER INITIATIVE (CPI) June 4!

The Community Power Initiative ties together our interest in rural development, biomass energy and climate change by focusing on how rural electric cooperatives generate their power. Our First Campaign Stop is at ODEC, at 2 pm, where Al Weed and our CPI project staff meet with ODEC's CEO, Jack Reasor, and will make a pitch for the use of smaller, distributed generation biomass plants across the state. For more info on the CPI, click here!

Ask your Congressman to support H.R. 890, the American Renewable Energy Act! Edward Markey (D, MA-7) has introduced the best RPS bill thus far this Congressional session. The measure calls for 25% of our energy to be generated from renewables by 2025 and includes a full package for federal REC issuance, distribution and tracking. Our action center is finally up, where we will list this bill and others we are tracking, with links so that you can assess their impact yourself.

PPV unveils new Virginia Biomass website at VBEG Annual Meeting! The Virginia Biomass Energy Group's 1st Annual Conference on Feb. 11 was a first in many ways: Our first look at torrefaction, our first presentations from a foreign dignitary and a U.S. ambassador, our first major collaborative project to be born from one of the sessions. For an overview of the agenda and to download the presentations from Biomass Energy in the Home: The Future is Now, visit VBEG's new website at www.virginiabiomass.org!

Put a Price on Carbon, Al Weed's January 15, 2009, editorial for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is available for reading on the RTD website by clicking here, or as an MS Word document by clicking here.

Biomass Research Associate, Kimberly Lewis, reviews the current state of the food versus fuel debate in her latest green paper. (This article is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.)

What are the differences between carbon taxes and cap and trade? If you would like to learn more about these two important policy tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, read Chairman Al Weed's Carbon Tax Green Paper, available in MS Word format.

PPV will be guiding three UVA engineering students, Brian Leary, Ann Deakyne and Katherine Brown, who have chosen to investigate the viability of using waste biomass to power types of agricultural equipment as their thesis project.

The challenge is to create an economically viable solution for the use of biomass as a fuel source to replace the present diesel fueled equipment. The research will delve into the areas of energy demands, engines and prime movers, transportation and logistical systems, and economic analysis. From this analysis they intend to evaluate a new system focused on the utilization of alternative energy sources and the social impacts it may entail. They plan on starting with a model system and analyze every component of the selected environment.

Through this project we hope to spur research in this field and open up many new possibilities to help with the current economic and energy crisis.

Please bear with us as we improve and update our website. Some areas are still under construction.