Political Leaders Bullish on Renewable Energy

DENVER, July 9, 2006 - Denver Mayor Jophn Hickenlooper, who calls himself a “recovering geologist’’ said he usually tells conference attendees to go spend money in his city. But in welcoming SOLAR 2006 attendees Sunday evening, he said  “Stay in the building.’’ The task at hand is so important that the solar experts should remain focused on finding new energy solutions. “Solar becomes a bigger and bigger part of the cure,’’ he said.

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said the time is ripe for renewable energy for reasons of national security and economic security, as well as global warming. “It is a very wonderful time for the renewable energy revolution and for you to put your focus on what is really the future of America,’’ he said in welcoming SOLAR 2006 attendees to Denver.

Dr. Dan Arvizu, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory said the work going on in renewable energy “just boggles the mind.’’
He added, “the pace of the penetration of technology in the marketplace will accelerate. I’m bullish about it.’’

Timothy Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation, won the biggest round of applause of the opening evening when he talked about taxing carbon pollution and thus making clean forms of energy such as solar approximately competitive. To the fossil fuel industries, he said “We’re no longer going to subsidize you by letting you put your garbage in the air.’’  
But the challenges ahead are enormous, he added, recalling how hard it was to win international consensus on reducing carbon emissions by 4 percent in the early ‘90s. “For the planet to survive, we have to get to 70 percent,’’ he warned.

Rebecca Cantwell was a reporter with The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News for 20 years, and is covering SOLAR 2006 for the American Solar Energy Society.