When President-elect Barack Obama picked Nobel physics
laureate, Stephen Chu, to head the Energy Department, many saw it as a
significant shift away from the Bush administration’s efforts and attitudes
towards climate change. Add John
Holdren – a Harvard University expert on climate change – as the new White House
science adviser; former environmental lawyer and US Senator Ken Salazar, as
Interior secretary; former New Jersey environment chief Lisa Jackson, as head of
the US Environmental Protection Agency; and Carol Browner – former head of the
Clinton administration’s EPA – in the new White House position coordinating
policy on energy, environment, and climate change, and it’s easy to see how
these new appointees have been anointed “the green dream team.” With additional promises of five million
new green jobs and a $150 billion investment in renewable energy sources, and
the future looks bright for efficient energy sources – including onsite
power.
What is the connection between distributed energy and the
call for sustainability? Well, at the annual Sourcing USA Summit (a biannual
meeting, jointly hosted by Cotton Council International and Cotton Inc., that
“gathers global leaders along the cotton supply chain for an open exchange of
ideas”), David
Pumphrey, Deputy Director and Senior
Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies, discussed the
relationship between efficiency and climate change in a presentation entitled,
“Outlook for World Energy: Is There a Sustainable Path?”
Among Pumphrey’s main points was the assertion that we “must
transform the way we produce and consume energy.” In order to mitigate the effects of
global warming and reduce carbon emissions, efficiency and technology must be
forged together into one powerful tool for change. Key to Pumphrey’s plan for a new energy
policy are renewable energy sources and increased efficiency. In particular, Pumphrey discussed wind
and solar, pointing out that while the former is now competitive, the latter
still suffers from “intermittency and grid constraints.” Nevertheless, we in the distributed
energy industry know that grid constraints and intermittency are not significant
liabilities when renewables are used for onsite power.
Pumphrey summed up his presentation with his list of
“imperatives for new energy policy,” which include:
1)
Creating a new market framework for carbon pricing
2)
Addressing all forms of energy supply
3)
Encouraging investment in strategic facilities and infrastructure
AND research for new technologies
4)
Global changes designed to encompass security, foreign policy,
environmental and economic considerations.
5)
Focusing on transportation and power generation/transmission, and
uses as priorities
6)
Requiring political leadership at every level.
What do you think?
Can a direct link be made between reducing carbon emissions, mitigating
global warming, and encouraging distributed energy? Or are we all just whistling in the
graveyard?