IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 177 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning membership 

of the United States in the International Renewable Energy Agency. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 

DELAHUNT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Ms. SHEA-PORTER) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning membership of the United States in the International Renewable Energy Agency. 

Whereas global warming, depletion of natural resources, population growth, increasing energy demand, rising energy 

prices, and unequal distribution of energy sources are 

contributing to the urgent need to transform the energy 

sector from one which primarily relies on fossil fuels to 

one that uses renewable energies and energy efficient 

technologies; 

Whereas the potential of renewable energy is vast and its current use is limited due to obstacles that include difficult 

permitting procedures, import tariffs and technical barriers, insecure financing of renewable energy projects, 


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•HRES 177 IH 

and insufficient awareness of the opportunities of renewable energy; 

Whereas foreign oil dependence harms the United States 

economy and consumers, entangles the military in foreign 

conflicts, endangers public health and the environment 

through the threat of global warming, and is estimated 

to have directly cost the United States 

$7,000,000,000,000 (in constant 2000 dollars) from 

1970 to 2005; 

Whereas expanding the availability and generating capacity of 

renewable energy to markets around the world will increase economic opportunity, drive technological innovation, enhance regional and global security, raise living 

standards, and reduce global warming pollution; 

Whereas global energy demand will continue to rise as countries experience economic expansion and industrialization 

and world population grows to an anticipated level of 9 

billion by 2050; 

Whereas at least $20,000,000,000,000 of investment in energy generation and infrastructure will be needed worldwide in order to meet the world’s energy needs in 2030 

(in constant 2005 dollars); 

Whereas energy generation and infrastructure takes many 

decades to turn over, making near-term energy investment decisions instrumental to long-term energy, climate, 

and economic security; 

Whereas the institutional support for renewable energy technology needs to be strengthened to match its growing 

level of importance to the United States and the world; 

Whereas the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 

and the International Energy Agency (IEA) were formed 


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•HRES 177 IH 

to address the unique problems and geopolitical dynamics 

associated with nuclear energy and petroleum, respectively; 

Whereas under the guidance and oversight of the IAEA, nuclear power has grown from supplying almost none of the 

world’s electricity at the IAEA’s founding in 1957 to 15 

percent in 2006; 

Whereas since the founding of the IEA, created as an autonomous agency linked with the Organization for Economic 

Co-operation and Development (OECD) during the 

1973–1974 Arab oil embargo to guard against severe future oil supply disruptions and help its 28 industrialized 

oil-consuming member countries counterbalance the growing power of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting 

Countries, global oil consumption has grown 55 percent; 

Whereas in 2004, carbon dioxide emissions from OECD 

countries were surpassed for the first time by emissions 

from non-OECD countries, and carbon dioxide emissions 

from developing countries are projected to account for 

over 75 percent of global emissions growth by 2030; 

Whereas encouraging growth of renewable energy in developing countries reduces the extent and likelihood that 

these economies will follow a carbon-intensive, fossil energy development path; 

Whereas the International Renewable Energy Agency 

(IRENA) is the first international organization to focus 

solely on renewable energy and include a broad constituency of industrialized and developing countries; 

Whereas renewable energy is proving to be a major economic 

driver and source of growth, with more than 

$100,000,000,000 invested worldwide in new renewable 


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•HRES 177 IH 

energy capacity, manufacturing plants, and research and 

development in 2007, and with revenue growth for companies in the solar photovoltaic, wind, biofuels, and fuel 

cell industries growing to $77,300,000,000 in 2007, up 

40 percent from 2006; 

Whereas small hydro, modern biomass (which excludes smallscale combustion of fuel wood, charcoal, plant waste, and 

animal dung), wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels make 

up just 2.4 percent of world energy supply; 

Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has 

stated that to stabilize greenhouse gases at carbon dioxide equivalent concentrations of roughly 450–500 parts 

per million—where global temperature rise could be limited to 3.6 to 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit and sea-level rise 

due to thermal expansion limited to 4.6 feet—global 

emissions would need to peak by 2015 and decline to as 

little as 15 percent of 2000 levels by the year 2050; 

Whereas in the United States and most countries, global 

warming costs are not currently paid by the polluters of 

greenhouse gases—a failure of competitive markets which 

leads to the overuse of carbon-emitting energy and the 

under-production of carbon-free energy; 

Whereas in the United States alone, over a billion tons of 

greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated each year 

at a profit through energy efficiency measures by 2030, 

avoiding the construction of hundreds of power plants; 

Whereas renewable energy tends to have higher up-front construction costs and low or zero fuel costs and fossil energy has an opposite cost structure, resulting in a higher 

number of jobs per unit of energy generated from renewable energy than conventional fossil fuels; 


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•HRES 177 IH 

Whereas IRENA aims to promote a rapid transition towards 

the widespread and sustainable use of renewable energy 

on a global scale by bringing together stakeholders from 

the energy industry, academia, government, and non-governmental institutions, and in cooperation with existing 

organizations and networks already engaged in similar 

missions, to provide consultative support to member 

countries, help improve regulatory frameworks and capacity, and facilitate access to best practices, effective financial mechanisms, technological expertise, and data on renewable energy and resource potential; 

Whereas 75 countries signed the International Renewable 

Energy Agency Statute on January 26, 2009, in Bonn, 

Germany, thereby founding the agency; and 

Whereas the United States may still become a founding 

IRENA member country, eligible to nominate a Director 

General and bid to host the IRENA headquarters on 

United States territory, if it signs the founding statute 

by April 30, 2009: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the United States, as soon as practicable, 

3 should seek to join the International Renewable Energy 

4 Agency. 

Æ 


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