Gov. Beverley Perdue has appointed Tim Toben chairman of the state’s Energy Policy Council.
Toben, a principal in green energy and building ventures, including the Greenbridge development in downtown Chapel Hill, takes over as the council has been revamped to include greater representation by environmental and alternative-energy advocates and refocused on creating green jobs and environmental protection.
Toben and his wife, Megan, own and manage an educational farm in western Orange County that uses solar and wind energy. He has served on the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change and is chairman of the Board of Visitors at UNC’s Institute for the Environment.
Toben joins fellow Orange County resident Larry Shirley in helping steer state policy in a new direction.
Shirley, head of the State Energy Office, will see his office move from the Department of Administration to the Department of Commerce as part of the effort to better link green-energy efforts to economic development. The energy office also will take over management of the Residential Energy Conservation Assistance Program from the Department of Health and Human Services. The move was part of House Bill 1481, legislation aimed at reshaping state energy policy passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Perdue last week.
Toben said he was honored by the appointment, but more excited about the shift in attention to a more progressive energy policy.
“I think the really hopeful signal that the governor sent by signing HB 1481 into law is that she is committed to building the green economy,†he said.