What Will It Take To 'Repower America'?
Nov 17, 2008
In a speech last July, former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore issued a challenge to "Repower America" by transitioning to 100% clean electricity within 10 years. I visited the Repower America site over the weekend because cleantech is one of the areas we'll be looking at during the next Tech Policy Summit conference in March.
The details of the Repower America plan include energy efficiency upgrades; new government policies and increased investments in renewable energy; creation of a unified national smart grid for delivering power; and support for the auto industry to transition to production of more plug-in vehicles. Changes that he says can be started immediately and that will help the economy overall by creating jobs and stabilizing energy prices over the long-term.
According to an article in Ars Technica yesterday, a number of U.S. companies have already seen huge savings from energy efficiency projects, making it an easier sell. For instance, Intel has invested over $24 million in the last eight years on conversation projects but is now seeing an annual return of over $44 million in energy savings.
That kind of return on investment can go a long way toward getting corporate buy-in. But, Ars writes, "the same doesn't necessarily hold for other climate initiatives" where investments are more costly and the ROI isn't nearly as attractive. Which is where the government is likely to step in to spur more investment and wider adoption in areas like renewable energy.
But, if it's up to Vice President Gore, it won't only be about what government does. As he explained in an op-ed that ran in The New York Times after Election Day, he believes that urgent action is needed to address climate change; he calls it "an emergency rescue of human civilization." And he's doing his best to share his plan not only with President-elect Barack Obama and Congress but with all Americans, in hopes that the same type of grassroots, Web 2.0-driven enthusiasm that was harnessed by the Obama campaign can create widespread support for clean energy.
In this video from the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco earlier this month, he called on participants to put the power of the Internet and collaborative software to use to raise awareness and to get involved. You can learn more at Repower America.
Tags:
Al Gore, cleantech, energy efficiency, green tech, renewable energy, smart grid, Tech Policy Summit
