[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9981]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SUN WALL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2006

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, today I have introduced a bill to direct 
the administrator of General Services to install a photovoltaic system, 
known as the ``Sun Wall'' on the headquarters building of the 
Department of Energy. There is no more appropriate Federal building 
with which to demonstrate the power and promise of photovoltaics than 
the Department of Energy headquarters building, known as the Forrestal 
Building, located in Washington, DC.
  Photovoltaics reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and offer 
distinct advantages over diesel generators and primary batteries. 
Photovoltaics are highly efficient and have no moving parts, so the 
need for maintenance is virtually nonexistent. Over 25 Federal 
buildings throughout the country, from Boston, MA, to San Francisco, 
CA, already use photovoltaics to great effect.
  Located in our Nation's Capital, the Sun Wall project will serve as a 
model for the entire country. The design for the Sun Wall project has 
already been selected after an open competition. It is an attractive 
and energy efficient design that can generate a maximum of 200 kW of 
electricity and includes a solar thermal installation for hot water and 
hot air. The Sun Wall would be the largest building-integrated solar 
energy system on any Federal building in the country. All that is left 
to do is to provide the funding needed to purchase and install the 
proper equipment.
  Mr. Speaker, an identical provision to this bill was enacted as part 
of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, last August. While 
the bill authorized funding for fiscal year 2006, no funding was 
appropriated for that year. This bill offers the same language as was 
included in that act, but allows funding to be appropriated in fiscal 
year 2007.