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 con-
cerning membership of the United States in the Inter-
national Renewable Energy Agency. 
Whereas global warming, depletion of natural resources, pop-
ulation 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 cur-
rent use is limited due to obstacles that include difficult 
permitting procedures, import tariffs and technical bar-
riers, insecure financing of renewable energy projects, 
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and insufficient awareness of the opportunities of renew-
able 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 in-
crease economic opportunity, drive technological innova-
tion, enhance regional and global security, raise living 
standards, and reduce global warming pollution; 
Whereas global energy demand will continue to rise as coun-
tries 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 en-
ergy generation and infrastructure will be needed world-
wide 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 invest-
ment decisions instrumental to long-term energy, climate, 
and economic security; 
Whereas the institutional support for renewable energy tech-
nology 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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to address the unique problems and geopolitical dynamics 
associated with nuclear energy and petroleum, respec-
tively; 
Whereas under the guidance and oversight of the IAEA, nu-
clear 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 auton-
omous agency linked with the Organization for Economic 
Co-operation and Development (OECD) during the 
1973–1974 Arab oil embargo to guard against severe fu-
ture oil supply disruptions and help its 28 industrialized 
oil-consuming member countries counterbalance the grow-
ing 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 devel-
oping countries reduces the extent and likelihood that 
these economies will follow a carbon-intensive, fossil en-
ergy development path; 
Whereas the International Renewable Energy Agency 
(IRENA) is the first international organization to focus 
solely on renewable energy and include a broad constitu-
ency 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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energy capacity, manufacturing plants, and research and 
development in 2007, and with revenue growth for com-
panies 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 small- 
scale 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 diox-
ide equivalent concentrations of roughly 450–500 parts 
per million—where global temperature rise could be lim-
ited 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 con-
struction costs and low or zero fuel costs and fossil en-
ergy has an opposite cost structure, resulting in a higher 
number of jobs per unit of energy generated from renew-
able energy than conventional fossil fuels; 
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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-gov-
ernmental 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 capac-
ity, and facilitate access to best practices, effective finan-
cial mechanisms, technological expertise, and data on re-
newable 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 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the United States, as soon as practicable, 
should seek to join the International Renewable Energy 
Agency. 
Æ 
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