Andy Karsner
Former Assistant Energy Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
www.energy.gov

Alexander "Andy" Karsner was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as America's ninth Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and sworn-in as a member of the sub-cabinet by Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman on March 23, 2006.

The Assistant Secretary manages the Department of Energy's (DOE) $1.47 billion applied science, research, development, and deployment portfolio, which promotes marketplace integration of renewable and environmentally sound energy technologies. His Office also bears primary responsibility for education, conservation, regulation and efficient use of our nation's energy resources, including federal energy management, building codes, appliance standards, and the Energy Star program, amongst others. Assistant Secretary Karsner led Administration efforts to implement several prominent Presidential Initiatives, including "The 20 in 10 Plan" to reduce our dependency on gasoline 20% by 2017; and "The Advanced Energy Initiative" which aims to accelerate breakthroughs in the way we power our cars, homes, and businesses; both announced by President Bush in consecutive State of the Union Addresses.

Previously, Assistant Secretary Karsner served as an international infrastructure developer and energy entrepreneur in the private sector on a wide range of technologies including heavy fuel oil, distillates, natural gas, coal, wood waste/biomass, wind energy and distributed generation based upon renewable technologies. He has been responsible for managing and financing large-scale power projects in North America, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, including unprecedented projects structuring in the Philippines and Pakistan.

In 2002, Assistant Secretary Karsner led his company, Enercorp, to win a global competition to develop the world's largest private wind farm outside the United States at that time. He has worked with Tondu Energy Systems of Texas, Wartsila Power Development of Finland, and prominent multinational energy firms and developers including ABB of Sweden, RES of the UK, Tacke of Germany (now known as GE Wind), and Vestas of Denmark.

Assistant Secretary Karsner was leading the Department's support for the Asia Pacific Partnership addressing Clean Development and Climate to address global emissions with market-based mechanisms and contributes substantially to the EU-US Transatlantic Dialogue on Biofuels and Renewables; as well as numerous, high-level bilateral and multilateral relationships, including Brazil and Western Hemispheric biofuel producer nations.

The Assistant Secretary is an accomplished scholar, was a Rotary International Fellow, and received an MA from Hong Kong University. He graduated with Honors from Rice University and subsequently received the prestigious Hugh Scott Cameron Award as Outstanding Alumnus. Mr. Karsner and his wife are multilingual, have visited every continent and more than hundred nations for work and pleasure, and reside with their growing family in Alexandria, Virginia.