Energy is Everything - Washington Energy Summit proposes immediate action with a balanced approach…

“America’s Future Prosperity Tied to Energy - The future economic prosperity of the United States is inextricably tied to our ability to create a sustainable and balanced energy system. The private sector is the pivotal actor in achieving energy system transformation with speed and at scale.”

And so began the National Energy Summit and International Dialogue held last week in Washington. This gathering of a broad coalition of CEOs, presidents of major research universities, labor union leaders, and top government officials both from the U.S. and abroad was brought together to discuss creating a single voice for moving forward with energy transformation. The summit was a part of the Council on Competitiveness’ Energy Security, Innovation & Sustainability (ESIS) Initiative, founded in 2007. The goal of the Initiative is to enhance U.S. competitiveness and energy security by developing a public-private action agenda to drive private sector demand for sustainable energy solutions and create new markets, industries and jobs.

I was surprised this event did not get more media coverage. But I was very encouraged by the discussions and recommendations, presented under the slogan, “Energy is Everything,” to U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. The council proposed specific actions under the six pillars for competitiveness - 1) Efficiency, 2) Clean Energy production, 3) Infrastructure & Manufacturing, 4) Smart grid, 5) Technology & Entrepreneurship and 6) finally World-Class Workforce.

The key messages from the recommendations are:

• Balanced Portfolio of Solutions – starting with efficiency on the demand side to renewable, gas, clean coal and nuclear on the supply side along with adding intelligence to the grid and training the workforce
• Strong support for nuclear and clean coal – expedite nuclear power plant approvals, re-commissioning and eliminate regulatory uncertainty for nuclear waste. Expedite construction of carbon capture and storage facilities
• Carbon tax for funding investments – Congress should enact legislation that will result in the establishment of a consistent, predictable and transparent price on carbon emissions to fund technology R&D, workforce training and efficient manufacturing
• Create a local Energy manufacturing infrastructure – provide tax incentives and financing to develop the infrastructure required to research, manufacture and service the proposed energy solutions

The Competitiveness Council has been working for almost two years on these recommendations which provide an excellent roadmap for industry and government to take immediate action. It’s my opinion that these recommendations should be acted upon by the current administration; they should be the foundation for the U.S. position at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen later this year.

For more details on this event check out the link to the Energy Summit & Competitiveness council. http://www.compete.org/nes