A powerful, if a bit optimistic, outlook on the new energy economy. A good friend and I were out kayaking the other day, and he raised the idea that after 9/11, Bush had perhaps the best opportunity ever to work on divorcing us from oil. If he had said, "We need to go after Al Qaeda, and we need to become energy independent.", he would have had nearly the whole country behind him. Of course he didn't. But now, in 2008, with the financial markets in turmoil and people in crisis, it's another chance to build the national support needed to make this switch. And if the clean tech world is going to reach it's full potential, we need to have national support for things like a more efficient grid. Now is the time to strike. We need to prove that saving money, making our country stronger, and helping the environment, all go hand in hand.

It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change.