On Monday evening the Clean Energy Conference was held in Fort Collins, featuring a distinguished panel of speakers including German Member of Parliament Dr. Hermann Scheer and the environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The event, organized by local entrepreneur Katie Hoffner, was put together in a short time frame but still managed to attract over 500 participants to the Hilton ballroom.
Anita Burke of the Catalyst Institute was the first speaker of the evening. Burke, a physicist and eighteen year veteran of Shell International, opened by offering that she had worked in the “bowels of the oil and gas industry” and was appearing to provide some context to globe’s environmental crisis. According to Burke, the Earth is guaranteed a four degree rise in temperature, “even if we ‘full stop’ producing carbon today.” She offered a definition of peak oil –the point at which maximum petroleum extraction is reached, after which production begins terminal decline – and maintains the oil and gas industry is near or at this mark. Burke then presented a quick succession of slides that demonstrated an explosion of global consumption since 1950, from oil to international tourism to paper to the number of McDonalds restaurants. For Burke, this pattern of consumption is leading to “peak everything” and requires bold action, including the elimination of automobiles, stabilization and reduction of the population, an immediate 80% reduction in carbon emissions, and the construction of dykes on our shores reaching two meters above sea level. While predicting a certain level of ecological catastrophe in the coming years, Burke maintains that as a country we are “on the precipice of making elegant choices.”
Judy Dorsey of the Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster spoke next, providing the audience with an overview and update on the Fort ZED initiative. Fort ZED (Zero Energy District) was introduced in 2007 with the mission to produce as much electricity from renewable resources (over 200k MWh/year) as the participants in the project use on an annual basis. The Fort ZED initiative raised $4.9 million in state and local money – much coming from local businesses like New Belgium Brewery – and was thus granted $6.3 million from the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE made the grant from its Office of Energy Delivery and Energy Reliability, where a $50 million fund was established to provide funding to nine communities dedicated to developing Renewable and Distributed Systems Integration (RDSI) technologies. Of the nine communities taking part in the program, Fort Collins and the Fort ZED initiative was peer ranked as the best of the participants. Dorsey finished by mentioning that not only will Fort Zed bring 500-1000 new jobs to the area, but “it could be the bold stroke that solves these seemingly intractable problems” our country is facing.
Dr. Hermann Scheer, one of Time Magazine’s “Heroes for the Green Century,” then took the stage to declare that the world faced “the deepest crisis of civilization since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.” Scheer discussed the limit of oil and gas reserves “at the same time demand is going up,” and pointed out that if China and India had consumed energy at the same rate as the United States over the past fifty years the world’s petroleum resources would now be exhausted. At the core of his presentation was the belief that much of the global population is confused and uneducated about the “gigantic danger” posed by the environmental crisis, and that political and economic leaders must provide “gigantic answers, adequate answers” lest “a new kind of nihilism ensue.” Scheer cautioned that energy experts cannot be trusted because most are on the direct or indirect payroll of the energy companies, so thinkers “must emancipate from the vices and consulting” of these corrupted advisors. Leaders need to make the case that “in the change in ownership of energy production [from fossil fuel to renewable], the only loser in the process is the conventional energy economy,” and not the consumer. Scheer then delivered his proscription for the worldwide embrace of renewable energy: “The art of policy is to introduce political instruments that translate the macroeconomic benefit [of renewables] into microeconomic incentives.” Scheer concluded his remarks by offering that “Courage is also a renewable energy,” and then received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Robert Kennedy Jr. concluded the evening, focusing on the political implications of environmental decisions: “In every case you see environmental degradation you also see subversions of democracy.” Kennedy put forth that America was largely on a path toward sustainability through the late 1970s, but the election of Ronald Reagan issued a devastating blow to the movement. Of particular disdain to Kennedy was Reagan’s relaxation of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, a law that requires automobile manufacturers to attain a miles-per-gallon target average over all cars sold. According to Kennedy, “Arguably the World Trade Center towers would still be standing if we kept those standards in place,” because the resulting oil independence would likely have kept us from war in the Middle East.
Outside of political statements, Kennedy identified two primary issues standing in the way of widespread American adoption of renewable energy. First, the current subsidies benefiting conventional energy companies must be countered with either a carbon tax or cap and trade program. Kennedy asserts that the true cost of fossil fuels is largely hidden from the consumer, given that the government takes responsibility for many aspects of the production chain such as protection over pipelines and shipping lanes. A carbon tax, which Kennedy does not believe Congress will pass this year, would do much to even the playing field between conventional and renewable resources. The second issue retarding widespread renewable adoption is America’s power grid: “We don’t have a national grid capable of carrying new kinds of power.” Kennedy notes that the current electric lines are not only inefficient in their ability to carry electrons, but “the grid is misaligned…it doesn’t reach wind power.” He estimates the cost of a new Smart Grid coming in at $150 billion with another $750 billion needed to create the renewable infrastructure (wind turbines, solar panels) necessary to become oil independent. After speaking for about forty five minutes with a set of strained vocal chords, the crowd rewarded Kennedy with a standing ovation to finish the scripted portion of the evening.
