Green revolution, green jobs central to national clean energy summit 2.0(By Lisa J. Wolf via Environment News Service)Hosting his second annual all-star gathering of clean energy proponents at University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Monday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called for "a new revolution ... a clean energy revolution" to restore American prosperity and global leadership.Comparing the National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 to the original American Revolution, Reid told participants why the date of the meeting, August 10, is important to him."It was on August 10, 1776 the word reached London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Revolution that followed set our nation and the world, but especially our nation, on a long journey towards prosperity and global leadership," said Reid."Today, August 10th here in Las Vegas we're firing the first shots of a new revolution to regain that prosperity and restore that leadership: a clean energy revolution that will create millions of jobs across America and thousands of jobs right here in Nevada," he said.Former President Bill Clinton, left, and Senator Harry Reid at the National Clean Energy Summit. (Photo courtesy Center for American Progress Action Fund, CAPAF)Reid hosted high-powered guests former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore; the current Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis; the Assistant Energy Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi; as well as Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; United Nations Foundation President Tim Wirth; billionaire energy executive T. Boone Pickens and John Podesta, who heads the Center for American Progress Action Fund.Podesta said he hopes that ideas engendered at the summit will enhance this fall's Congressional debate on clean energy and global warming reduction. The House passed the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill earlier this year, and Senate is expected to tackle legislation after Labor Day."We've learned in our past meetings that clean energy infrastructure works best when it works together," Podesta said. "Electric cars can use electricity created by wind turbines and solar power. A smart grid can efficiently bring renewable electricity from points of generation in deserts and plains to points of consumption in cities and towns.""Efficiency in renewable electricity standards that affect the price of carbon pollution can create the incentives for sustained private investment that can jump-start American production of clean energy technology and the clean energy technology industries of the future," Podesta explained.President Clinton's White House Chief of Staff, Podesta said he sees President Barack Obama as understanding "this fundamental point: all the elements of a clean energy economy rely on one another. That's why he's made transforming our economy to a clean energy base so central to economic recovery."Energy Secretary Chu also called for a revolution, "a second industrial revolution." The first industrial revolution came with a "carbon dioxide cost" but "in the next industrial revolution, we must develop technologies that will enable us to get the energy the world needs to grow and prosper but "essentially reducing and eliminating the carbon dioxide," he said.Chu said the United States has the greatest research and development centers in the world in universities, national labs and the private sector. "Once we get this great invention machine geared and going we'd be invincible. But the only trouble is, let's get it going."Just back from China, Chu said China is "gearing up" to lead in the next revolution and is "going heavily into solar" and is "leading the world now in the highest voltage transmission both A/C and D/C" for "internal consumption" and intends to "be the leader.""Quite frankly, the United States is still ahead of China and |