Roundtable IV: Enabling Technology Cooperation and Deployment to Achieve Energy Security, Sustainability and Competitiveness

On this panel:

• Hon. Timothy E. Wirth — President, United Nations Foundation
• Dr. Dan E. Arvizu — Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson — President of Iceland
• Robert Edward "Ted" Turner, III — Chairman, Turner Enterprises, Inc.

Timothy Wirth: Our job isn't describing the problem, but to figure out what we do next and how to mobilize our resources to make a difference. Three questions: What are the public policy measures that will be necessary for the US to be competitive around the world and deal with this issue? What are the rules related to tech sharing and transfer that let us all take advantage of our positions? And how do we finance this?

Dan Arvizu: There's a changing environment around this issue, and we can take advantage. There's an enormous international problem with broad implications. Unless we deal with it in a rigorous way, we won't have a good solution. Long-term, we want a sustainable energy economy. So let's get to the endpoint, not just using incremental steps but using a portfolio of long-lasting technology and speeding deployment of tech into the market place. The next step is investing in innovation, getting it into the marketplace through policy -- getting the rules right.

Timothy Wirth: The government of Iceland is a model in its shift to a sustainable economy. Pre-WWII, Iceland was poor, but they've had a complete transformation.

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: It's due to an entire generation of scientists, engineers, and policymakers who discovered that clean energy was essential. This hasn't just produced economic savings -- every decade of domestic power production saves one year's worth of gross national income. And by being 100% clean energy, we've become a magnet for investments. That wouldn't be the case if we didn't have clean energy. Just as Denmark uses wind power and decided to innovate and has become a leading global power, clean energy creates a strong foundation for the standard of living in the country. We can now compete in the international global market. We're making our contribution -- Iceland has the largest glaciers in Europe, and they're melting fast. We don't need international conferences to tell us that. The only way to stop it is to get other countries to work on this issue. We don't understand why the US, with all its universities and companies and resources, is losing its competitive edge.Iceland can help the US realize this is not only good for business, but it's a fundamental contribution to stopping climate change.

Timothy Wirth: Ted Turner, you've turned your attention from telecom to the energy world. Do you see parallels?

Ted Turner: There's a big difference between information and energy, but what they have in common is techonological breakthroughs that create new ways of distribution.We need a new, digital energy system just like we built a highway system in the 1950s. We should focus on wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal and get going - we need to move quickly. If it costs more in the short term, that's not so bad -- you have to think long-term. One reason I made billions is that my competitors, who had infrastructure where I didn't have any, were thinking about tonight's ratings and I was thinking 10, 20 years ahead. You can't stick your head in the sand and think it should just go away. We're going to run out of fossil fuels, we're polluting the atmosphere. We're getting bankrupt spending all our money on foreign fuel. Phase out incentives for coal and gas and move that over to renewable fuels. We have to let Congress know we want a good, clean energy bill passed before Christmas.

Timothy Wirth: How do we get out in front once again?

Dan Arvizu: There are a number of attributes to the present energy system that were part of the last century. We allowed it to evolve that way. The market for energy is different than other markets -- you have incumbents and provide a service at a price. To displace an incumbent is very difficult, so change comes hard. We need to change the rules of the game. Our current successes have come from bottom-up demand, not top-down thinking. The idea of distributed energy is very different than the current model, and we need to shift incentives accordingly. We're not solving the right problem. A distributed resource model could solve our problem -- there's not much promise in solving our problems through our current system. Breaking the mold of where we are requires government intervention and new policy. Iceland saw a vision and invested accordingly -- you need to allow new endpoints to flourish. We haven't approached the problem from that perspective.

Timothy Wirth: How do we get around the incumbents?

Ted Turner: Going around the incumbents is a battle, and it ends up in Washington. We were up against thousands of television stations and Hollywood when I started working in cable. I went around to members of Congress personally and lobbied, just like I'm lobbying for clean energy now. I said "we're going to bring competition." They didn't like the fact that we had only three television options. We beat them here in Washington -- we have to let Congress know how we feel about this. If we do this business-as-usual, it's a matter of life and death. Climate change affects everything, from population to our food supply. It's irresponsible for us not to do anything. How can a nation as important as ours not have an energy plan?

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: I can understand the discussion about a national plan. But Iceland didn't have a grand national plan when we changed our system -- it was a series of local communities creating policies so they would have low and stable energy prices. Iceland can have the same energy prices for the next 60 years. The US spends an enormous amount of energy on heating and cooling. Changing how we power heating and cooling, city by city, district by district, street by street, to use different kinds of energy, you would transform the energy picture of the US. You don't have to wait for an energy bill -- you can do it now and give your community a stable energy price. Mayors, governors, and local officials have a responsibility as well. You have between five and ten years to create a new national energy grid.

Timothy Wirth: So how are we doing on moving the country towards a national grid?

Dan Arvizu: There's no lack of will, but it's difficult. There are many jurisdictions around which we have to work. This country has been blessed with renewable resources. If you didn't build another power line, what can you do? It's amazing. If you overlay resources, there's a tremendous amount you could do right now -- but you have to cross jurisdictions. We don't have infrastructure conducive to that. We're picking off areas where hanging on to the current grid makes sense -- 20% renewable energy is not a stress on the system. Doing more than that means you have to do something different. So if you're thinking long-term, you need something new. This isn't a technology issue, this is an infrastructure/policy issue. We need renewable plants with long-term contracts. We have great science, but manufacturing is moving abroad because that's where the markets are.

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: In the 50s, we bought American cars. Now, we're trying to get electric cars to keep our clean energy. We're getting offers from Asian countries to help transform our transportation system. There's no American player in this, and that's, to me, a warning signal. I have been astounded how fast India, China, and Japan have been moving in this market. If American companies don't get in, these companies will completely dominate the European market.

Timothy Wirth: Ted Turner, you own land and have solar and wind resources on that land, but you can't get that resource to market.

Ted Turner: The grid's not where we are. So we're going to build a 250 acre solar installation in New Mexico -- our customer is the local electric co-op, who want clean power and can distribute it. There are very few places like that. Solar panels take up space -- you want to put them in the southwest where the sun shines more reliably. Wind instillations require space as well -- we have to get a grid. I hate to see America falling so far behind. The day will come when most of the cars in the world will be poewred by electricity. For us to be behind -- and we're way behind; we look good unless you know what's going on.

Timothy Wirth: These technologies need a public policy change.

Ted Turner: The war will be half won and lost in Washington.

Timothy Wirth: Are there clear steps that need to be taken?

Dan Arvizu: There are a number of mechanisms -- price on carbon, increase access, decrease water use, etc. What remains is the question of how to kickstart a market. There's a lot of capital sitting on the sidelines waiting for definitive rules. With the right policies, a number of technologies can become viable today. Energy will change in ways that are difficult to recover from if we don't do something. Innovation will get us to where we need to go -- 50 years from now, I'm not sure where we'll be headed.

Timothy Wirth: We've talked a lot about US domestic policy, but the world has to change its rules as well. How is that going?

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: In the last two or three years, there's been a fundamental shift. Asian countries have gotten involved because glaciers in the Himalayas will have disappeared in 30-40 years if climate change continues at current rate -- which means that Asia can't feed itself. That's why China and India are moving on these prospects. So the focus in Copenhagen will be on what the US needs to do. We should continue the dialogue past Copenhagen and create a grand coalition. I think it's feasible. Everyone realizes that we are in this together. Greenland is melting. It's seven times bigger than Germany. It's a burning political necessity -- what we in Iceland can do is demonstrate that to prevent this from happening is good business, increases competitiveness, betters the standard of living. Don't let us forget that it's a fascinating field for young scientists or engineers. They need a challenge that motivates them.

Timothy Wirth: People are saying the international community can't come to agreement.

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: Twenty years ago, we had a vision of a nuclear-free world. Today, we have a meeting on the security council agreeing on what everyone told me twenty years ago was impossible.

Timothy Wirth: Ted Turner, you were there. What happened and what might we see from that breakthrough that can help in the climate world?

Ted Turner: We need a new renaissance. We have to stop doing stupid things and start doing smart things. There are too many of us -- there are three and a half times as many people alive now as there were when I was born. One of the things we can do is get rid of nuclear weapons. It's a real sign that these countries agreed they would get rid of nuclear weapons. We can do anything we want to. My dad used to say, "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind of man can achieve." If everyone in this room told their senators what they've learned today, we can get things done.

Timothy Wirth: How do we get to the scale of change that's necessary?

Dan Arvizu: This is a global problem -- the research community is engaged, governments need to be engaged. We can't be fearful of competition. We can solve these problems if we work cooperatively together on the research side and on the public policy side.

His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson: It has to be a coalition -- that's why I came here. The Council on Competitiveness is a manifestation of this issue. If we all work together, the politicians will realize that this is a new political reality. In my company, it was people coming together on a local level that achieved this. Somehow this country functions best when you realize there's a problem or a threat. Get the message across.

Ted Turner: Doing things right makes you feel good and makes you happy. We should tell our government that. Doing the right thing is the right thing to do.

Timothy Wirth: We all have to make our voices heard -- standing on the sidelines is not going to get it done.

Coming up: last presentation of the day, announcing the Global Competitiveness Council.

 

— Sarah Spooner

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