Shaping America’s future

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

One lesson learned from Monday’s National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV is that this country has moved beyond the days when roundtable discussions on renewable energy were limited to academicians, think tank wonks and scientists who spoke theoretically.

The summit’s participants, including former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, showed just how seriously the topic is now taken by the nation’s political leadership.

This country has entered a new phase in its quest to replace fossil fuels with clean alternatives, including solar, wind and geothermal energy. The summit’s role in that phase was to address potential solutions that have a real chance of being implemented.

As reported Tuesday by Alexandra Berzon in the Las Vegas Sun, a major thrust of the gathering was to make sure there is enough public support for an energy bill that would result in higher costs for carbon emissions while setting a national requirement to acquire a certain percentage of energy from renewable resources. Clinton aptly said: “If we want a good bill we have to convince people that this is an economic winner.”

With the House having approved an energy bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, it is now the Senate’s turn to act. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has the clout to put his stamp on legislation that will help the U.S. take greater advantage of renewable resources.

One of his ideas, which was discussed at the summit and should be approved by Congress, is to support construction of transmission lines that can deliver renewable energy from remote power plants to urban customers.

Another idea that should be included in the bill is Clinton’s suggestion to create jobs by making buildings more energy efficient, using public-private partnerships and cooperation from banks to make that happen.

The success of the summit ultimately will be measured by the bill that comes out of Congress.