Smart Grid Leadership Awards Go to Senator and Department of Defense Official

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS) announced today this year's recipients of its Demand Response and Smart Grid Leadership Awards. The recipients are Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment.

The awards were presented at ADS's 2012 National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid, held on June 26 – 28 in Washington, DC.

"The nation's electricity grid is considered to be the greatest engineering feat of the 20^th century," Dan Delurey, Executive Director of the ADS, said, "and now it is time to build the grid of the 21^st century. While making a modern grid is the job of the entire demand response and smart grid community, it is also an effort that needs national encouragement and leadership. ADS is honoring Senator Bingaman and Deputy Under Secretary Robyn for just this—for their work to shape federal policy and federal action to make the smart grid and options like demand response key components of the electricity and overall energy pie."

Senator Bingaman is one of the most senior Democrats in the US Senate, having been first elected in 1982. He has served for many years as the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  Prior to his service in the Senate, Senator Bingaman was the Attorney General of New Mexico. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Stanford University School of Law.

During Senator Bingaman's Chairmanship, some of the first policy on demand response and smart grid was enacted by the Congress, including provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Dorothy Robyn has been the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment since July 2009. In providing management and oversight of military installations—totaling 539,000 buildings and structures worldwide—she is responsible for installation-energy programs and policy. Her work has been part of an overall effort by the Department of Defense to embrace smart grid and demand response as part of its commitment to greater sustainability in its energy usage.  

Prior to the Department of Defense, Dr. Robyn was a principal with The Brattle Group and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. From 1993 to 2001, she served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and a senior staff member of the White House National Economic Council.

About the National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid

The 2012 National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid was held on June 26 - 28, in Washington, DC, at the US Chamber of Commerce and at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More information on the 2012 National Town Meeting can be found at www.demandresponsetownmeeting.com.

About the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid

The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS) is a nonprofit organization, originally formed in 2004 as the Demand Response Coordinating Committee (DRCC). ADS is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization consisting of professionals and organizations involved in demand response and smart grid. It provides services to help its members in the conduct of their work and in the attainment of their personal, corporate and governmental objectives. ADS seeks to establish and grow a demand response "community" of policymakers, utilities, system operators, technology companies, consumers, and other stakeholders.

Group Members of ADS are Ameren, American Public Power Association (APPA), Arizona Public Service (APS), ComEd, Con Edison, Conservation Services Group (CSG), ENBALA, Energate, Exelon, Freeman, Sullivan & Co, ISO New England, Joule Assets, MISO, National Grid, Navigant Energy Practice, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), NYSERDA, Opower, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), PECO, PJM Interconnection, Progress Energy, Reliant, Rodan Energy, Salt River Project (SRP), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), Southern Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority TVA).    

More information on ADS can be found at: www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org

SOURCE Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid