By Barry Worthington, Executive Director, U.S. Energy Association

Remember 1990? It was the year East and West Germany re-united as the Soviet Union began to crumble. Nelson Mandela was freed in South Africa. The Hubble Telescope was launched into orbit. Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the first Gulf War. Driving Miss Daisy was Best Picture. And the Cincinnati Reds swept the Oakland A’s to win the World Series.

1990 was also the first year of the “Energy Conservation Forum” as it was called back then. Today, it’s called the “Energy Efficiency Forum,” and it takes places for the 20th consecutive year in Washington D.C. this week. We’ve been a proud co-sponsor of the event with Johnson Controls since 1992.

For two decades, the Forum has brought together policy makers, business people and other stakeholders to share their views on energy efficiency and its impact on the environment, national security and economic growth.

It’s the passion of the people who’ve taken part in that discussion over the years that has made the Forum what it is today. And it’s that passion that we celebrate in a very special way this year by creating the Energy Efficiency Forum Hall of Fame and inducting its first members – each one of them selected by the Executive Council for their outstanding contributions to energy efficiency policy and for their ongoing leadership:

• Doug Decker – former director of the government business unit at Johnson Controls and founder of the Forum.
• Mark Ginsberg – former director of the Federal Energy Management Program that leads federal agencies to reduce energy consumption, and currently senior executive with the Department of Energy.
• Dr. James Schlesinger – the nation’s first Secretary of Energy under President Jimmy Carter.
• Thomas Kuhn – President and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, the association of investor-owned electric utilities that generate three-quarters of the nation’s electricity.
• Hazel O’Leary – Energy Secretary under President Bill Clinton and currently president of Fisk University.
• Phil Sharp – former Congressman from Indiana and currently president of Resources for the Future.
• Jack Gibbons – appointed as the first director of the Federal Office of Energy Conservation in 1973, just as the nation’s first energy crisis began, ultimately becoming President Clinton’s director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
• Christine Ervin – formerly the Department of Energy’s Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, who went on to lead the U.S. Green Building Council.
• Kathleen Hogan – Director of the Climate Protection Partnerships Division at the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes ENERGY STAR®.
• Dan Reicher – Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the Clinton administration; currently director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for Google.org.
• Spencer Abraham – A former Senator from Michigan, Abraham was Secretary of Energy under President George H. Bush.
• Christine Todd Whitman – The former Governor of New Jersey served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003 where she was a strong advocate for financial incentives for energy efficient buildings and renewable energy.
• Senator Byron Dorgan – The North Dakota Senator has championed energy independence as chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee.
• Branko Terzic – A former energy commissioner in Wisconsin and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who has long been involved in the Forum as a speaker, moderator and member of the Executive Council.
• Eileen Claussen – the president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change who once correctly predicted that a cap-and-trade system would require “a great deal of political will” to pull off.
• David Garman – Formerly Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, as well as Under Secretary of Energy, where he played a lead role in implementing major presidential energy initiatives for President George W. Bush.
• Edward G. Rendell – The Governor of Pennsylvania has a well-established track record of promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy.
• Tom Leppert – As the former CEO of Turner Construction, the Mayor of Dallas probably knows more about energy efficiency in buildings than any other mayor currently in office.
• Timothy E. Wirth – The former congressman and senator from Colorado is president of the United Nation’s Foundation and Better World Fund, working to strengthen the United Nation’s work with the respect to the environment and other issues.
• James Rogers – Chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy as well as co-chair of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency.
• Kateri Callahan – The president of the Alliance to Save Energy is a tireless advocate, fundraiser and coalition builder for energy efficiency in the marketplace.
• Greg Nickels – As Mayor of Seattle, he has led his city to become one of the greenest in the nation. He is also author of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement.
• Thomas Friedman – The Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times reporter and author has made a career of writing about global trends and issues that have included energy and the environment.
• Andy Karsner – Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the administration of President George W. Bush, where he earned the respect of both the business and environmental communities.
  

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