A report on the recent National Clean Energy Summit, with video and summary of remarks by speakers...

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WHEN: February 23, 2009

The conference doesn't begin until about 4:50 into the video. skip ahead

WHAT: The forum will focus on modernizing and expanding the electricity grid, integrating energy efficiency and distributed generation into operation and regulation, rapidly increasing transmission capacity for renewable energy and reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil by examining short- and long-term solutions to replace foreign oil with domestic resources to fuel vehicles and trucks, including natural gas.

Harry Reid was the first speaker. He and Jeff Bingaman will be introducing legislation this week that would give federal regulators the authority to override state utility regulators in order to determine proper placement of new smart grid infrastructure. The legislation will be part of other energy policy proposals that the Senate is expected to consider soon.

Former President Bill Clinton was asked why an energy plan has taken so long … “We didn’t have the votes!”

Al Gore pointed out that Earth has about the same amount of carbon as Venus. Here, it is on the ground; on Venus, it is in the atmosphere.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi took up the call for the establishment of a new transmission grid and compared it to the building of the Interstate Highway in the 1950’s which, Al Gore had told the group at breakfast, was a project sponsored by his father, Sen. Al Gore, Sr.

Boone Pickens then laid out the problem of foreign oil - $475 billion spend in 2008 - and $17 billion in January alone. He pointed out that Mexico - which is our third largest supplier of foreign oil - is running out of oil and will be a net oil importer in five years. “That oil will have to be replaced by something - the choice is more oil from the Middle East or we can use our own resources."

“We have the renewables working, but wind or solar or biomass will not operate an 18-wheeler." He talked about Dave Freeman (who is sitting in the audience) who runs the Port of Los Angeles and is working to move all of the rolling stock at the Port from gasoline and diesel to natural gas.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu discussed the need for standards which attend to a smart grid. “It is difficult for anyone to begin working on a 21st Century grid” without knowing what the standards for allowing the grid to operate will be.”

Robert Kennedy (who appeared at the Capitol Hill Town Meeting with Boone in December) announced a new project to build a new solar-thermal plant in California which is cheaper to build than any other type of power plant.

Bill Clinton - "We have a consensus to move, but the details matter. We all know we are going to need cap and trade legislation, and we need a global agreement on standards. Hillary has just returned from China. She said they know what they have to do, but they don’t know how to get to a 50 percent reduction.

Most of us can’t do anything about China’s environment, but we can do the things which are right in front of us. We have to increase efficiency standards for household appliances. We have to allow states to fund local energy production and not reserve all the money for large power plants.

If you’re not in the government your job is to prove that this can work - at the local level. That means we have to stop favoring one type of power generation over another."

Other speakers:
John Sweeney, the head of the AFL-CIO, Van Jones, founder of Green for All, The Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, Senator Byron Dorgan (ND), Denise bode, CEO of the Wind Energy Association, Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey, Lee Scott, CEO of WalMart, Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union, Carl Pope of the Sierra Club, Michael Thaman, CEO of Owens Corning, and John Podesta, chair of the Center for American Progress, who helped organize the event.

Every President since Nixon has promised energy independence. President Obama said it was his "single overarching goal" to end US reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela by 2018. If you would like to join a march on Washington for energy independence (without leaving your house) April 1-3, click on this