ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES 949 



Schlesinger shot back: 



I don't think they arc inconsistent. We certainly are not going to get much 

 energy from the breeder reactor over the next 20 years. I think that you are still a 

 supporter of the breeder reactor. 



SOLAR ENERGY PROGRESS IN 1979 



Following 10 days of hearings at the end of February and early 

 March 1979, the Ottinger subcommittee reported out its section of 

 H.R. 3000, the DOE authorization bill. During the hearings, Ottinger 

 and Gore took the DOE to task for ignoring the congressional man- 

 date for a Federal photovoltaic buy program. In April 1979, the full 

 committee approved a solar increase over the President's budget, as 

 follows : 



[Dollar amounts in millions] 



President's budget 



in 1979 (operating Committee 



expenses) increase Total 



Amount $417.4 $9.1 $426.8 



The committee increased funding for development of components 

 and prototypes for solar heating and cooling. Also, an amendment to 

 the DOE authorization bill extended the Solar Heating and Cooling 

 Demonstration Act of 1974. The committee increases made possible 

 final assembly and field testing work on several residential and in- 

 dustrial cooling systems. 



The committee funding enabled progress toward the President's 

 goal of installing solar systems in 2.5 million homes by 1985- 



In the photovoltaics area, the committee voted a $25 million 

 increase to authorize additional testing of the generation of electricity 

 from sunlight. Some decreases in operating expenses in other solar 

 categories were occasioned by shifting funds to construction accounts. 



On June 14, 1979, Ottinger's subcommittee scheduled joint hear- 

 ings with the Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and 

 Power to assess the status of the domestic policy review of solar 

 energy which President Carter had initiated in May 1978. Ottinger 

 noted that "the domestic policy review, which involved a total of 

 29 Federal agencies and a good deal of public participation, was 

 completed 7 months ago and submitted to the President for a policy 

 decision." As the June 14 hearings were held six days before the Presi- 

 dential announcement of a new policy on solar energy, there was a 

 good deal of criticism by committee members of the lack of action by 

 the administration. 



