Washington, D.C., January 2009 – The Alliance to Save Energy has elected three new members to its Board of Directors for terms beginning January 1, 2009: Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. (PG&E) President and CEO Peter A. Darbee; Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan; and Whirlpool Corp. Executive Vice President David “Dave” T. Szczupak. The Alliance also has elected Board officers for 2009.

“Each new Board member brings an important personal and professional commitment to energy efficiency,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “For example, Peter Darbee of PG&E has not only made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his company’s business agenda. He, along with our Board Co-Chair, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, is helping to lead the electric utility industry toward greater reliance on energy efficiency as a resource through their participation on the Management Committee of the Edison Electric Institute’s new Institute for Electric Efficiency.

Callahan continued, “Roger Duncan of Austin Energy – which shared the Alliance’s Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service with the City of Austin in 2003 – is recognized globally as a driving force for clean energy and energy efficiency and was named by Business Week as one of the world’s ‘Top 20 Individual Carbon Reducers.’

“Whirlpool’s Dave Szczupak, who brings a deep and abiding personal passion for the issue of energy efficiency, will provide important Board representation for the appliance manufacturing sector,” she said. “The Alliance also deeply appreciates Whirlpool’s support for several energy efficiency home makeovers conducted as part of our consumer education and awareness campaigns.”

“Each of the new Alliance Board members adds an important dimension to that body,” Rogers noted. “Peter Darbee, a recognized, innovative leader of the utility industry, brings tremendous vision and leadership skills. Roger Duncan and Dave Szczupak will each fill a key role in the Board’s makeup – Duncan as a representative of the public power sector and Szczupak with his significant prior experience in the automotive industry.”

“I look forward to serving with the new Alliance to Save Energy Board members, who will help guide and inspire the Alliance’s work in 2009 and beyond,” commented Board Honorary Chair Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). “As our nation faces almost unprecedented economic challenges, it is critical that we use energy efficiency as a key strategy for extending our limited energy supplies, protecting our national energy security, creating new jobs, and curbing climate change.”

In addition to Pryor and Rogers, who will continue in their posts, the Alliance 2009 Board officers will be First Vice Chair Robert J. Dixon, senior vice president, Global Energy Services and Solutions, Siemens Building Technologies, Inc.; Secretary Rich Wells, vice president, energy, The Dow Chemical Co.; and Treasurer Rob Pratt, senior vice president, Henry P. Kendall Foundation.

Darbee, a veteran of the energy, telecommunications, and investment banking industries, now heads Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., a $35 billion energy-based holding company that owns San Francisco-based PG&E, one of the nation’s largest combined natural gas and electric utilities.

“I am honored to join the Board of the Alliance,” said Darbee. “Continuing to drive advances in energy efficiency is a vital and fundamental part of the long-term solution to the energy, climate change, and broader environmental challenges we all face today. I look forward to working with – and learning from – fellow Board members, as well as sharing PG&E’s decades of experience in this critical field.”

Duncan joined Austin Energy, the nation’s 9th largest public power utility, in1998as vice president for conservation, renewable, and environmental policy. Prior to that, he acquired more than two decades of experience in city government, including two terms as a member of the Austin City Council. He currently serves on the boards of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Electric Drive Transportation Association, and Public Sustainability Partnership.

“Austin Energy has a long history of working with the Alliance to promote energy-efficiency programs and policies that benefit the consumer and the environment,” Duncan said. “Energy efficiency at all levels is one of the best ways to reduce energy use and carbon emissions and is the cornerstone to creating effective energy and security policies throughout the world.”

Szczupak replaces long-time Alliance Board member Mike Thieneman, who retired from Whirlpool earlier this year. Szczupak joined the company earlier in 2008 as executive vice president, Global Product Organization. He previously served as CEO of Dura Automotive Systems, an international automotive supplier, and, for 22 years, held various leadership roles at Ford Motor Co.

“It is an honor to be elected to the Board of the Alliance to Save Energy,” Szczupak said. “Whirlpool has been a long-time supporter of the Alliance and its efforts to advocate for energy efficiency in the public policy arena and educate consumers about the multiple benefits of energy efficiency with effective public-private partnership campaigns.”