Gabrielle Giffords and solar energy ...

Seems a US Representative from Arizona has set up an advisory council to "help her develop proposals to boost the availability and use of solar energy."

Arizona Congress Watch reports that

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords ... will launch a major initiative aimed at making Arizona the Silicon Valley of solar energy.

The members of Giffords' advisory council are:

1. Roger Angel, University of Arizona regents professor of astronomy

• J. Roger P. Angel
• Director, Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory
• Director, Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics
• Regents Professor of Astronomy
• Regents Professor of Optical Sciences

• For the past year, Angel has been looking at ways to cool the Earth in an emergency. He's been studying the practicality of deploying a space sunshade in a global warming crisis, a crisis where it becomes clear that Earth is unmistakably headed for disastrous climate change within a decade or two.
• The Arizona Republic, May 3, 2006: Angel, 65, who grew up in a London suburb, is the father of modern optics in astronomy and one of Arizona's most famous names in the field. Earlier this year, he was awarded a top prize by the American Astronomical Society.

2. Kendall Bert, TREO Inc.

3. Don Budinger, Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona

4. Prabhu Dayal, engineer and founder of CTrade, a carbon emissions and alternative energy company

5. Dennis Dickerson, Pima Association of Governments

6. Richard Elias, Pima County Board of Supervisors

7. State Rep. Steve Farley

8. Michael Gering, president and chairman of Global Solar, which makes products for civilian and military use.

9. Tom Hansen, Tucson Electric Power

10. Britt Hanson, Office of Cochise County Attorney

11. William Harris, Arizona Science Foundation

12. Katherine Kent, The Solar Store

13. Leslie Liberti, city of Tucson Office of Conservation and Sustainability

14. Col. Kent Laughbaum, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base

15. Paul Loomis, Oro Valley mayor

16. Jackie McNulty, citizen activist

17. John Wesley Miller, John Wesley Miller Companies

18. Paul Portney, dean of UA's Eller College of Management and professor of economics

19. Valerie Rauluk, founder and chief executive officer of Venture Catalyst Inc. consulting company

20. Arthur Schneider, Raytheon

21. Joe Simmons, head of UA's materials science and engineering department

22. Robert Strain, Sierra Vista mayor

23. Leslie Tolbert, vice president for UA research, graduate studies and economic development

24. Karin Uhlich, Tucson City Council

25. Robert Walkup, Tucson mayor