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Former President
Clinton Opens the National Clean Energy Summit
Progressive Growth—Creating a Low-Carbon Economy
 Former
President Clinton opened The National Clean Energy Summit Monday
Afternoon, August 18th, which was hosted by UNLV, Senator
Reid and the Center for American Progress Action Fund. His remarks were
delivered from a podium, although his manner was conversational and very
well received by the audience. The summit was at the Cox Pavilion and
drew over 800 attendees: private citizens, industry leaders, scientists
and energy policy experts.
 Our
Senator Harry Reid introduced President Clinton with warm comments about
President Clinton’s grasp of knowledge on the complex global
environmental challenges. He also mentioned inviting President Clinton,
while still in office, to visit Nevada to discuss clean energy plans for
our state. President Clinton not only arranged a stop in Nevada, he
brought cabinet members and made the focus Lake Tahoe, then reduced to
about 60 foot depth visibility from 100. Senator Reid stated that he and
then fellow Senator Richard Bryan realized just how seriously President
Clinton took these issues. Reid said that assistance has already
resulted in the visibility level dropping to 70 feet.
President Clinton was
greeted with standing applause. He stated he was here in Las Vegas three
years ago, carrying some of the same messages he wanted to share with
Summit attendees this week. Impressed with the Summit ‘whose time’ had
come, he felt it was very appropriate to find its initial meeting in Las
Vegas. He has long felt that the West can lead the Nation as the
premiere example of self-sustaining clean energy. His ideas flowed from
handwritten notes, the concepts encompassing all aspects of clean energy
challenges in the world today. He thanked Senator Reid and remarked that
he knew Reid was serious about these matters, which is why he made the
Lake Tahoe visit a benchmark meeting for Nevada.
“We need to convince
people it’s going to be good economics, and reduce the GDP” more than
the 1% on the table right now, because “we’re not going to make it” at
that rate. President Clinton believes, “It is good economics—we have to
be convincing in our message in order to ‘make the sale’ to those” still
undecided.
The “problem with all
this clean energy stuff is that all the costs are up front” with 80% of
solar investments in upfront costs, it gives people pause. “Solar plants
of the 1980’s are operating more efficiently because of the new
technologies” that keep coming along.
President Clinton
feels we “must explore reducing carbon emissions by 80%”, put a price on
carbon emissions, and in the alternative, “put a carbon tax in place.”
“To meet these
challenges all three sectors of our country must jump in: the Feds,
state & local governments and the non-governmental sectors including
private citizens, foundations, labor and faith-based organizations.”
10 Issues to Consider
President Clinton
immediately launched into his thoughts on the issues the world now
faces, suggesting various levels of involvement for the Federal
Government, State & Local Governments, and private Citizens and
Corporations.
He listed off 10
Issues that should be addressed, starting at the Federal level.
1)
Economic Stagnation & Unemployment—unemployment is key to citizen
concerns, with only 5 million jobs created in the past 8 years, and the
cost of food and necessities ever-increasing, real fears block
receptivity to energy challenges
2)
National Security—fear of terrorism and countries commanding Weapons of
Mass Destruction while holding policies and beliefs very different from
ours. These dangers are compounded by the our national deficit—we have
borrowed money, currently about a trillion dollars a year from countries
with ideologies dangerous or destructive to us
3)
Climate
Change—it is felt that carbon emissions must be reduced to half by 2050.
Our 6 billion world population is thought to be 12 billion by that then.
“A lot of good things are going on…some right here in Nevada, but not
even close to where we need to be”. He asked to consider 10 years back,
to the failed US involvement in the Kyoto Accord. “We have come a long
way, mentally” since he asked Vice President Al Gore to attend on our
behalf. Jokingly, he added that Congress had made up its mind before
Gore had even got off the plane. What’s more, the Senate had issued a
refusal of President Clinton’s proposal before he “had even sent it” to
them. His evaluation of the Kyoto division was not because India and
China were key and not signatory, but that all used each other as an
excuse not to meet the Kyoto Accord head on. 170 nations signed the
Accord. Given the energy conditions in most underdeveloped nations,
“only about 155 actually had to make and effort to reach the goals”. 8
countries maximum have come close to succeeding. President Clinton said
that small number of successful countries out of the 170 total “should
bother us more than that the US didn’t sign on”. He asked the audience
if these countries could be consider indifferent, or lazy, or corrupt?
No. “The re-organization” and steps that needed to be implemented before
realizing the actual goals of the Kyoto accord had not been fully
appreciated, and “had a lot to do with it”. He then itemized some well
documented statistics: ½ of greenhouse gas emissions are generated from
electricity, with an example of 5500 giga-watts derives primarily form
fossil fuels (80% coal), less than 10% from solar and a minimal amount
from wind. He feels we are not on the right path. We are not organized
sufficiently even to ‘pick the low-hanging fruit’ of cleaner energy:
‘just practicing energy efficiency would take us 80% of the way!” A
significant reduction could be realized simply from practicing energy
efficient measures, such as energy efficient appliances, turning them
off when not in use, and energy efficient lightbulbs. We need to figure
out what the Federal level of involvement should be in the Energy Grid,
and what level of sharing they could do in the local Grids. There are
not as many people, as a rule, where there is a lot of wind and sun.
Eastern Oregon, Eastern Montana, Western Texas are prime examples of
places with abundant sun and wind, yet they are so far ‘off the grid’
that they would need assistance to transport the energy to the Grid.
4)
De-Couple—the last Energy Bill only brushed up this concept. The utility
companies need to be enabled through a National Policy to earn income
differently than the current model of getting more money by customers
using more energy… “Then utility companies would go for it”. California
is so much more efficient because of decoupling. The policy could
include an ambitious concept of enabling utilities to finance clean
energy initiative on the part of small businesses and citizens. They
could assist in organizing local projects to retrofit older homes—to see
each retrofit as a TINY power plant! The average usage decreases by
25-50%. “If you are strapped for cash, like 2/3’s of our families,
recouping the investment in 10 years or so isn’t going to work when
their loan is for only 3 years”. President Clinton quoted Goldman Sachs
who calls for us “to reach for Japanese efficiency levels.”
5)
“With
Federal legislation, accelerate” the replacement of incandescent light
bulbs “with CFL’s and LED’s”.
6)
On the
production side, continue to sequester carbon. If we capture carbon,
such as pumping CO²
into depleted oil wells and cap the wells, that will offset production
emissions.
7)
“With
legislation and private initiative, accelerate the use of more
sustainable fuels, instead of corn ethanol. Even corn producers saw corn
ethanol as short term measure. All ethanol can be converted to
cellulitic ethanol. We could do a differential tax to this now.” The
enzymatic processing is less efficient, but a good alternative to corn
ethanol. President Clinton cited the “Brazilian model of sugar cane
ethanol which produces 4 times more than corn ethanol. Our own tariff of
54¢”
effectively blocks it for our own consumption.
8)
“Consider Brazilian President Lula’s suggestion” to foster crop
production in countries in the sugar growing belt—around the Caribbean,
Central and South America and “not subject them to the 54¢ tax”, and we would benefit.
9)
“By
legislation” at the national and local level, as well as from private
participation and cooperation:
a.
“Accelerate conversion of ALL landfills in the country to generate waste
heat or fertilizer”. Methane is 20 times worse in the emissions category
and is a ready source of energy.
b.
“Accelerate hybrid electric vehicle” production
c.
“Create
hi-speed rail” systems, especially in rural areas
d.
“Improve rail transport”
e.
“Encourage production of 100 mpg vehicles—we have the technology, now,
in our country, to produce vehicles that can accelerate to 40 mph before
switching to fuels”, we should “offer higher tax credits” for these
vehicles.
10)
“Demonstrate to the rest of the World that these measures are not just
affectations of wealthy countries, but all countries” can aspire to this
approach. The way back into the hearts and affections of other countries
is by helping them.
State and Local
governments
“We need better building codes. Houston is second only to
Vancouver Canada” in efficiency code. We need organized efforts on all
fronts. Currently only $5 million dollars worldwide is allocated. The
allocation should be in the billions.
There is an astonishing lack of knowledge in our
architects, planners, and labor. President Clinton said our “state is
pretty good”, but knowing that, we need to press on.
Local legislation and organization can shut down landfills,
supplementing the Federal level of involvement. Don’t wait for the Feds.
Non-Governmental:
labor, foundations, faith based organizations
Participate in retrofitting local homes and businesses.
a.
Organize purchasers markets with discounts
b.
Energy
savings to make up the difference for low income
c.
Energy
services can offset
The National League
of Cities is a good resource, representing 11 thousand communities.
Nobody figured out
how to make the numbers work, that is why Kyoto didn’t work. We need to
figure out the numbers. We all need to familiarize ourselves on these
complex issues and the complex numbers…to make this work.
We can put together
the National Grid in bite-size pieces, 3-5 giga watt ‘parcels’.
President Clinton
wanted to impart his New Idea:
We, those
interested in clean energy, need to capture the imagination of the
global public, to get them in this boat and rowing…
a.
Identify candidate countries, communities, states that have lots of sun
and wind, are ‘isolated’ enough to be a closed system for purposes of
this candidacy.
b.
President Clinton suggested examples:
a.
Any
Caribbean nation
b.
Africa:
Rwanda
c.
Asia:
East Timor & Papua New Guinea
d.
United
States: Puerto Rico
These candidates are clearly isolated, can be assisted to
positively build their economies with clean energy solutions, create
jobs and exports, and eliminate their energy import needs.
Congress has knocked around the Puerto Rican problem for
session after session. Puerto Rico IMPORTS 100% of the energy
requirements. “So why doesn’t the United States make Puerto Rico
completely self sufficient, energy efficient?”
“The same thing can be done on our reservations where they
don’t have casinos.”
“…and Nevada, why not Nevada?”
Prove it can be done!
 These
measures have a strong chance of taking shape in Las Vegas. We “have
UNLV, with its natural capacity” to generate leadership and numbers. You
have the wind and sun. If we “overcome the transport of energy, you can
build” the farms further away from town.
President Clinton
stated he was very depressed about his library—he was so proud when his
library was the first of the presidential libraries to go ‘Platinum’
(the LEED rating so sought after in building code) until he found out it
only required a 35% reduction in carbon footprint. He said these kinds
of misperceptions are what we must overcome.
He said that Nevada
going completely self sufficient would ROCK THE WORLD.
That comment brought
everyone to their feet again, applauding.
Question & Answer
Session following President Clinton’s speech.
Moderator: John
Podesta, President & CEO of the co-sponsor Center for American Progress
Action fund.
Q:
A lot of your ideas
will increase everyone’s energy costs—how are you answering those fears?
A:
I always ask, “Are the benefits greater than the
investment?”
Last century the highway bill improved everyone’s lives.
The benefits dwarfed the out of pocket. Also, inequality has increased
more in this decade than in any other since the 1920’s. There is a
decades worth of jobs, millions of jobs, incomes to be earned—again,
this dwarfs the investment.
Also, “What are the real costs of the status quo?” They are
enormous, we are borrowing a trillion dollars at high interest rates.
“It is crazy that Americans don’t think we can do this—we
have done so many other challenges and succeeded enormously.
Other countries regard clean energy sufficiency as a great
revitalization of their industry. Germany ceased all subsidies and gave
them to clean energy. Spain is convinced it is their path to economic
growth. The UK increased their growth 50% with a net zero increase in
electricity consumption. They will have met their goals by 2010, well in
advance of the Kyoto 2012 deadline.
The largest single solar manufacturer is Chinese. When they
believe they can do clean energy they will. First they need to overcome
fears that the Kyoto stuff isn’t all just a sinister plot to derail
their growth. When they see it works, they have a trillion dollars in
reserves to implement their ideas.
New Orleans is a
classic example of difficult issues. Brad Pitt’s organization is doing a
wonderful job of building homes down there, and one he personally has
vetted. Another issue is their wetlands. If pre-Katrina wetlands had
been where they were 30 years ago, the devastation would have been only
10% of the damage done by the storm, probably the metal wall wouldn’t
even have been breached. If the Feds would support re-establishing the
wetlands, that would be a huge step to insuring this doesn’t happen
again.
Q:
What did you do while
in office as President towards clean energy?
A:
While President:
a.
Established good partnerships with industry
b.
Executive order for 20% of the federal fleet to be operating as clean
fuel vehicles (this was reversed after I left office)
c.
Worked
with the California Homebuilders to build to higher code to decrease
power bills by 40% after built
In closing, President
Clinton stated that both presidential candidates are committed to
climate change legislation. He believes that with this legislation,
whoever signs on to the Kyoto –like initiatives will have the ability to
meet the goals promised.
He believes we should
be more worried about the issues beyond current economic woes.
(#1 in his list
above, as opposed to #’s 2-10)
If we were to spend
10% of what we are spending in Iraq, we could meet all of the issues
just discussed.
Finally, President
Clinton asked everyone to consider how we are going to feel:
-
If we have 4 more
years with 2/3’s of our people in severe distress
-
If we have 10
more years of only 5 million jobs added
-
What we are going
to leave our grandchildren
** The Center for
American Progress, co-sponsor of the Summit, states “the energy
challenge we face in this new century is extraordinary in its urgency,
its stakes, its scope and its opportunities. **
** Senator Harry Reid,
Senate Majority Leader and co-sponsor of this Summit, helped create
federal solar energy tax credits and believes government must do more to
support investment in our clean energy future. “We have some very
serious decisions to make about what direction our nation will take. **
** President Clinton
suggested A National Policy could be put in place enabling utilities to
finance clean energy initiative on the part of small businesses and
citizens. They could assist in organizing local projects to retrofit
older homes—to see each retrofit as a TINY power plant! The average
energy consumption after a retrofit decreases by 25-50%. Current loan
terms are only 3 years, which for 2/3’s of the population is too short,
especially when they don’t fully recoup their investment for at least 10
years. **
** President Clinton
feels we are not on the right path. We are not organized sufficiently
even to ‘pick the low-hanging fruit’ of cleaner energy: ‘just practicing
energy efficiency would take us 80% of the way!” A significant reduction
could be realized simply from practicing energy efficient measures, such
as energy efficient appliances, turning them off when not in use, and
energy efficient light bulbs. **
** In closing,
President Clinton asked everyone to consider how we are going to feel:
·
If we
have 4 more years with 2/3’s of our people in severe distress
·
If we
have 10 more years of only 5 million jobs added
·
What
we are going to leave our grandchildren |
