National Clean Energy Summit
August 20th, 2008 by Briana Woodard
The National Clean Energy Summit was held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas yesterday. There was so much information about the becoming more energy efficient and there was a variety of guest panelists that had great ideas for making Nevada, as well as America, more efficient.
The morning started off with T. Boone Pickens discussing the ways in which he feels America can become more efficient. The oilman surprised many when he insisted that renewable energy is our only hope. He had a booth at the event where handouts displaying his website, pickensplan.com, and explaining that America is addicted to foreign oil were available. His handout also explains that in Sweetwater, Texas a large wind power station was built and provided a surge in population and economic standing that was lacking before. He mainly encourages the use of natural gas along with implementing similar facilities to the Sweetwater station throughout Texas and into the rest of America where it can thrive. He was a very charismatic speaker and seemed to hold the audiences attention. He also made it clear that he stuck to what he knows–which was a lot. He clearly did his research prior to the event.
Next there was a series of panelists discussing the ways in which people could earn more by using less. The discussion was moderated by Randolph Townsend, Nevada Senator. The main messages given from Arizona governor Janet Napolitano was to require all government building be built under LEED standards and that HOAs should not prohibit solar panels on homes. Jim Murren, from City Center, discussed how the project was built to save the amount of energy that 7700 homes use on an annual basis and that the whole project is following LEED standards. The project also boasts a 50% improvement in lighting energy consumption. That was just two of the five speakers in that panel.
In the afternoon, there was a panel about restoring American leadership with jobs, growth, communities, and trade. First to speak was Somer Hollingsworth, the president of the Nevada Development Authority. He talked about how he, along with his organization, plans to work for Nevada to become the solar capital of the United States and the worl. He also discussed the fact that all Las Vegas school buses run on Biodiesel of Las Vegas biodiesel, providing job security for a local business. Next to speak was Ian Rogoff, chairman and trustee of the Nevada Institute fir Renewable Energy Commercialization. He discussed Mariah Power and its innovative technology with the use of wind turbines. He also discussed the importance of newer businesses by explaining that 70% of the jobs created in the past 15 years were created by businesses open less than 5 years. For more information about the organization visit NIREC.org. Next to speak was Van Jones, the Senior Fellow for the Center for American Progress Action Fund as well as the founder and president of the Green For All organization. He was perhaps the most spirited speakers of the whole day. It was nearly impossible not to go right up to him and shake his hand. It is clear that he is very passionate about his work and that he genuinely wants to see the earth in a better condition and involve the people living here in making it better. He discussed the fact that many lower income families and individuals are fearing the “green” movement because it all seems expensive but he stressed that these changes must come but they don’t need to come at a high cost. He wants to train individuals to work with solar paneling and renewable energy related jobs. The last speaker for this particular panel discussion was Fred Redmond, VP of the United Steelworkers. He discussed the Blue Green Alliance and how it could create so many jobs if we as a country invested more into renewable energy. He also talked about the Green Jobs Convention which deals with the educating people in a trade linked with renewable energy, such as solar paneling.
Next was Keynote speaker and Utah governor Jon Huntsman. He discussed that the work week was changed to four days per week to save on energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the individuals working for the state. This also increases the ability to get in touch with customer service reps as their hours are now 7-6 Monday through Thursday. He also talked about hybrid cars and fuel efficient cars and the fact that you can barely find any of those cars available for sale in Utah because they’re already purchased.
The final panel of the day focused on government’s role in the clean energy transformation moderated by John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The first speaker was Colorado governor Bill Ritter. He discussed the changes that have been made since he took office, which included becoming the national leader in developing renewables. He also said that 2500 jobs were created in just the few months he has been in office from “green” jobs. They have also quadrupled the wind power they use in just 18 months. The next speaker was Jon Wellinghoff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Comission. He mainly discussed the urgency of enacting 8 year production tax credits and investment tax credits, as well as establishing a federal renewable portfolio standard with an energy efficiency standard. The next speaker was Dr. Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He discussed the work the lab has been doing with biomass that consists of grass that has low energy input and how they are exploring ways that it could create energy in the future. He also talked about their discovery of a synthetic biology technology that is a yeast which has the properties to act like a gasoline. Lastly, he talked about their work on an atrificial plant that turns water into oxygen and hydrogen which they then hope could turn water and sunlight into fuel with more work on the plant. He seemed very optimistic about the work the lab is doing and looks forward to exploring new technologies. The next speaker was the president of Decision Factors David Overski, who had some radical ideas that could definitely help us all. First he called for no taxing on new solar technology. He went on say that the Department of Energy labs should be operating and connecting the effects of global warming and exploring the ways we can address it rather than asking whether or not we should be working and getting involved with global warming. The last panelist was Jim Thoma, the senior VP and manager of Energy Services for Bank of America. discussed that a regulatory environment with market based mechanisms like cap and trade is needed. He also talked about their technology that allows them to turn landfill gas into clean energy. He also talked about CREBs, or clean renewable energy bonds that should be given out to make homes more “green” throughout America.
Rounding out the evening was Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York. His speech was my personal favorite of the whole day. He discussed the PlaNYC which consists of three parts–OpeNYC, MaintaiNYC, and GreeNYC. In the first phase, the city plans for a population conisisting of over 9 million people by 2030 and they say with proper planning, the city can welcome the increase in population and tourism to provide money that can be invested back into the city. In the MaintaiNYC section, the city plans to redevelop and update their infrastructure to help plan and more easily overcome problems such as power outages to avoid devastation similar to what occurred in 2003. Bloomberg addressed that major outage and said that he was impressed with their planning and the fact that many people made it out of bad situations with little to no harm based on their extensive planning, but also discussed that he would like to improve the technology their city operates with to avoid problems like that in the future. In the final phase, GreeNYC, Bloomberg discussed how they are working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% and how they are attempting to achieve the cleanest air of any big city in America. With big plans like this, and a concrete start to the plan, Michael Bloomberg seemed incredibly confident with his city’s ability to rise to the PlaNYC 2030 challenge. To check out more on the plan, visit: http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/challenge/greenyc.shtml
There’s my post game wrap up for the National Clean Energy Summit. It was a great event that encouraged its attendees to spread what happened in Vegas instead of letting it stay here. For additional stories, check out our newclips section for coverage provided by the local papers.
