Earth Equity News

President Clinton's Keynote Clean Energy Summit: Organize, Finance and Educate. Posted by David Roberts, Gristmill, August 19, 2008. "On Monday, Bill Clinton gave the opening remarks at the National Clean Energy Summit… At the federal level, Clinton offered 10 recommendations [to ease us into a green economy]: Pass a price on carbon via a cap-and-trade system (…'I tried [the carbon tax] once. It didn't work for me.')... Tax credits to purchasers or producers of clean energy… [with at least] a 6-10 year time frame… Modernize the electrical grid, both its efficiency and its carrying capacity… [Make] utility decoupling… mandatory federal policy rather than left to the states… Accelerate replacement of incandescent lights with florescent, and raise appliance efficiency standards... Fund research and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration -- 'we can't afford not to try to do this'… Accelerate the move away from corn ethanol to more sustainable biofuels… Clinton said corn ethanol plants can 'easily be modified' to produce cellulosic ethanol, a claim many biofuel opponents would contest... Implement a national program to shut down all urban landfills and use the organic material for waste heat or fertilizer… Accelerate the shift [to] hybrid electric vehicles and modernize rail networks… Demonstrate to [the] rest of the world that 'this is not an affectation for rich countries,' that it's just as big an opportunity for developing countries… This list was followed by another list for states, and another for NGOs, but by that point most people, including your humble reporter, who has as high a tolerance for wonkery… were having trouble staying focused. Clinton finished with what he called a big idea that could grab the public's imagination: organizing to make one entire country or U.S. state completely carbon neutral, reliant only on self-produced renewable power and efficiency. It would 'rock the world.' Overall, the opening night of the summit, from Reid's introduction to Clinton's speech to the Q&A, was a strangely muted affair, with little sense of excitement or momentum. Perhaps things will pick up [today]."