Leadership Dialogue I: Setting the Global Bar for Energy Efficiency

On this panel:

• Richard M. Smith — Chairman, Newsweek
• George A. David — Chairman, United Technologies Corporation
• John Krenicki, Jr. — Vice Chairman, General Electric Company; President and CEO, GE Energy Infrastructure
• Jonathan Lash — President, World Resources Institute
• Frederick W. Smith — Chairman and CEO, FedEx Corporation

Richard Smith: It's no exaggeration that enhanced energy efficiency is just as important -- if not more important -- than alternative sources of energy -- but the initial cost of enhanced efficiency is much lower.

Fred Smith: FedEx consumes a lot of energy in our operations, so it's vital for us to find ways to become more energy efficient. Energy efficiency is the largest economic security issue we have.

John Krenicki: Scalable energy will make energy affordable. GE has been working on this technology for five years, but initial policies were only short-term. We;re going to drop from number one to number three in clean energy production unless we change our policies and become more competitive.

George David: The need for efficiency in the products we build has made us focus on cutting our own emissions by 25% over twelve years. If it's so easy and it's got a positive rate of return, why aren't more people doing it? What's the catalyst we need to get people to become more efficient?

Jonathan Lash: We need to create incentives to reduce our emissions even more.

Question: who's getting it right on energy?

Fred Smith: The European Union and Japan are doing much better than we are. They have a very visible tax on gasoline and diesel, which tells consumers that reduced consumption will save them money.

George David: Buildings consume one and a half times as much energy as all transportation costs -- being efficient isn't just cutting fuel costs, it's making our buildings more efficient. Just as we have safety codes for buildings, we need efficiency codes for building.

Jonathan Lash: We need to encourage people to consume clean energy tech. China is giving a huge amount of support to its renewable energy industry.

Jonathan Krenicki: you can't deal with the energy challenge in isolation. There's low-hanging fruit that can create jobs if government plays a role.

George David: carbon costs, codes and standards, and R + D funding are all vital to the future of energy. Just like we learned in school, reducing and reusing are an important part of becoming more efficient. Energy is a constant. Most energy ends up as waste heat -- you can be up to 80% efficient instead of 35% efficient. Elevators are a good example of a technology that's recapturing energy and using it more efficiently.

Question: How can we take the consensus on clean energy and bring it to Washington?

Fred Smith: We've reached a tipping point.

Jonathan Lash: Having worked on environmental issues in DC for 30 years. Everything about the dynamic has changed -- industry has taken the lead on energy.

Up next: Assuring access to clean and competitive energy. Stay tuned

— Sarah Spooner

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