WASHINGTON--To start a green revolution, "change your leaders, not your light bulbs," the New York Times' columnist Tom Friedman said Monday.
If the United States wants to lead the next technological revolutions, Friedman and others said at the Freedom to Connect conference here, the right leaders are needed to establish the proper incentives, along with smart regulations.
"Elect the right people--there's really no substitute for that," said Chris Savage, an attorney for Davis Wright Tremaine who specializes in Internet and telecommunications. "If that doesn't happen, you're hosed. That said, it is going to take a certain amount of time (to challenge) the orthodoxy of the market."
Now is the time for regulatory reform, both men said at the two-day conference about the emerging Internet economy.
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman on Monday spoke about the need for government-provided incentives for green technology.
(Credit: Stephanie Condon/ CNET Networks)The recent collapse of the financial sector has seriously challenged the Chicago economic school of thought, which advocates for minimal government intervention in the market, giving policymakers a rare opportunity to institute regulations that favor consumers over business interests, Savage said.
"We have on the order of six to 18 months to figure this out," he said. "Timing matters--over time, any regulatory agency will come to be highly adapted to the large, rich interests it regulates."
Friedman said it would take government intervention in the form of carrots and sticks in order to develop a lead in the energy technology sector. He described the state of innovation in the United States as a spaceship.
"In our case, the booster rocket, Washington, D.C., is cracked, and the pilots are fighting over a flight plan," Friedman said.
Unlike the information technology sector, he said, the energy technology sector faces competition from cheaper, dirtier energy alternatives.
"When Marc Andreessen invented the second browser, there were not dirty browsers already in existence," he said. "That is not true with the ET revolution. Without a price signal, we will not get a green revolution."
Fostering growth in that sector is critical, he said.
"Energy technology is, I am sure, going to be the next great industrial revolution," he said.
Among other things, clean energy technology will be sorely needed to bring the world's poor a reliable, sustainable source of electricity.
Without electricity, people are prohibited from performing a variety of regular tasks, "but most importantly, you can't get to Google," he said.
Acquiring electricity is the first step to accessing information and an education, the speakers at the conference agreed.
As Internet access increasingly empowers people, the rules regulating the Internet should be adjusted with the input of the public, some speakers said.
"Reaching the most democratic solutions will require making the Internet policy process as interactive as the Net," said Nathan James, the program and outreach manager for the Media and Democracy Coalition, an affiliation of consumer, public interest, and labor groups."If we don't hear from a diversity of perspectives now, how will we ever know we charted the best course?"
When the president announced on Monday a $1.2 billion investment in science research at national labs, he spoke at the White House before a select group of companies that reflect his commitment to reviving the economy through investments in green technology.
Representatives from more than two dozen companies joined an audience of lab directors and researchers to hear the president commit to funding projects that can spur job creation in the green-tech sector. The companies present mirrored the president's goals: there were many venture capital firms that have helped establish successful clean-energy companies, start-ups waiting for late-stage investments, and large companies that could represent the success possible.
"Progress is rarely easy, and I know people in this room understand that," Obama said. "Sometimes the funding dries up, or the investors walk away. Sometimes you have to fail before you can succeed. And often it takes not just the commitment of an innovator, but the commitment of a country to innovation."
The president highlighted the accomplishments of a few companies, including Serious Materials,which makes energy-efficient windows. The California-based company recently reopened a window factory in Pennsylvania that shed more than 100 jobs when it shut down.
Representatives from Solyndra were also present at Monday's announcement. The solar start-up is the first company to receive a grant from the Department of Energy as a result of stimulus funding. The funding will allow the company to build a second plant, which will employ about 1,000 people, once operating, and employ 3,000 people in its construction.
Representing both the potential in solar power as well as the potential to develop commercial products from basic research, executives from the firm Suniva also attended the White House event. The company last year received $50 million from investors, including New Enterprise Associations, to commercialize its photovoltaic cell technology.
New Enterprises Associates, one of the first venture capital firms to focus on energy-related investments, was present, as was RockPort Capital Partners, which funds energy, environmental, and advanced materials companies. There were also two investment banks present: Pacific Crest Securities is a technology-focused investment bank, and Fourth Sector Bancorp is the first venture bank devoted to sustainable enterprises.
One venture capital firm at the event, Craton Equity Partners, invests in green building materials, an area with potential for growth. Autodesk, which produces design software with a focus on sustainability, was also present. The president also highlighted the Seattle-based firm McKinstry Company, which is retrofitting schools and businesses to make them more energy efficient and expects to hire as many as 500 new workers in the next few years.
WASHINGTON--When politicians are doling out trillions of tax dollars in bailouts and so-called stimulus spending, nobody should be surprised if the line of businesses queuing for cash snakes all the way around the Capitol building. The latest idea: more spending on smart grids.
The idea of a smart grid is an alluring one: A far more intelligent electric power system that takes advantage of technological developments to deliver power in a more optimal, energy-efficient way. A household dishwasher could decide to turn on when prices are low at off-peak times, and plug-in electric cars could feed power back into the grid when necessary.
To make the case that a smart grid is deserving of some serious federal largesse, utility companies and their business partners organized an event here on Thursday that drew hundreds of congressional staffers and random political lurkers (the free sandwiches probably helped). The companies demonstrated "smart" thermostats and smart phone applications to monitor energy usage--and then delivered the punch line: significant checks from the U.S. Treasury are necessary to make all this happen.
Given that electric companies make money from energy consumption, they need some government encouragement to adopt smart grid technologies, they said.
Congressman Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) gave his support Thursday for using stimulus money to invest in smart grid technology.
(Credit: Jay Inslee's congressional Web site)The federal government should provide "the right incentives to allow the utilities to do the right thing," said Bob Gilligan, vice president of transmission and development for GE Energy.
It is expected, business representatives said, that Congress will soon authorize using taxpayer funds for smart grid technology, if not through the upcoming stimulus package, then in either an energy bill or a separate climate change bill.
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who belongs to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee, was on hand to endorse the spending allocation.
"We know this is driven principally by private enterprise and private inventors, but Uncle Sam needs to belly up to the bar and be the spark plug for this revolution," Inslee said. "We know the world demands clean energy technology. The world is going to go to the door of the country that will develop these new technologies."
Along with increasing loan guarantee programs and research and development funding for such technologies, the federal government could take steps to incentivize the use of smart grids by decoupling utility revenues from the amount of electricity sold, Inslee said. The development of a smart grid system could also be dovetailed with a renewable energy portfolio standard, he said.
"We should not allow this economic crisis to be wasted," Inslee said. "We intend to use this stimulus package to promote investment in these technologies."
Tax vehicles such as investment tax credits would be cleanest way to spur smart grid use, said Dan Delurey, executive director for the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition, a trade association.
"The smart grid does qualify for stimulus," he said. "It's infrastructure, and it's shovel ready. There will be R&D, but there are technologies out there that will be deployed now."
Better business models and policy frameworks are needed, the business representatives said, before the country can embrace renewable energies like wind and solar, which are not especially useful on a calm day or when the sun isn't shining. The energy produced by those sources, they said, needs to be integrated into a smart grid that can use other sources of power when necessary.
Furthermore, smart grids can let customers know when energy from environment-friendly sources is available.
"We have the opportunity to put into the hands of Americans the means to save our economy money and address a grave threat" such as climate change, said Dan Abbasi, senior director for the investment firm MissionPoint Capital Partners. (Abbasi's company has invested in companies including Trilliant Networks, which sells "intelligent network solutions that power the Smart Grid," and stands to make a handsome profit from Uncle Sam's generosity.)
Smart grid implementation could also result in installation jobs in every congressional district in the country, he said.
The benefits of the smart grid are spread to all energy participants, not just utilities, said Trilliant CEO Bill Vogel.
However, "like the Internet, the government needs to have some influence and then back out to get something started correctly," he said of the smart grid.
"Through innovation and standards, it is the gift that keeps on giving," he said.
CNET's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report
Alaska is no high-tech haven, so it's understandable that Gov. Sarah Palin is a little-known quantity when it comes to tech policy and renewable energy.
In a surprise move Friday, presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Palin, 44, was elected two years ago, becoming Alaska's youngest governor and its first female governor, and hasn't established a long public record. (Her government Web site was inaccessible most of Friday, presumably swamped by all the inquiring minds.)
John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
(Credit: Alaska governor's office)What is clear about Palin is that like many Alaska officials, she heartily supports onshore and offshore drilling in the state, particularly for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That policy doesn't differ too much from McCain's--he reversed his position on drilling this summer, but he is still reticent about tapping into the ANWR. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama opposes drilling in the ANWR, and has instead pushed the development of renewable sources of energy. Obama has said that he could be open to investigating some areas that are currently off-limits. Palin's support of ANWR drilling isn't surprising given that the state's economy depends heavily on the oil and gas industry.
Still, she's not entirely beholden to Big Oil. A fiscal conservative, Palin voted in December to raise taxes for oil companies by $1.5 billion, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank that issues a biannual state governor report card based on tax records. Cato typically excludes Alaska from its report card because the state's budget swings so widely on fluctuating oil prices based on world demand.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at Cato, called the governor's record on energy "uninspiring" because her tax increase didn't result in significant tax cuts elsewhere. Instead, in June, she proposed suspending fuel taxes for residents for a year, a move that would save Alaska residents an estimated $40 million.
Edwards added that despite the lack of a major software or Internet industry, Palin has not issued any tax breaks for technology companies or technology initiatives as an incentive to bring such businesses to the state (an admittedly difficult thing to do).
On the tech policy side, Palin has almost no record on issues such as Net neutrality, data privacy, and wiretapping. But there's one exception that's sure to pique the interest of privacy advocates: on May 28, Palin signed a bill that would make Alaska the ninth state to not comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law requiring national identification cards.
"It's something to reflect on as far as caring about people's privacy," said Cord Blomquist, technology policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C.
Mead Treadwell, a technology-focused venture capitalist and chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a federal advisory commission to President Bush and Congress on Arctic research issues, said he met Palin when she was the mayor of Wasilla, a small town in Alaska. Treadwell said that she has long been open-minded about the need for technology to solve problems.
"We're a natural energy economy and you can't drill on- or offshore without bringing the best technology, like 3D seismic technology to find areas for drilling, directional drilling to exploit it, and satellites. She's supportive of new tech," Treadwell said.
Palin's father-in-law was at one time staff officer at the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation, the state's seed capital fund for technology. According to Treadwell, she was critical of her incumbent Republican rival Frank Murkowski in 2006 when he shut the foundation down. In her inaugural address as governor, she emphasized the value of research into science and technology.
Despite Alaska's absence of a big tech industry, the state's chief industries, oil and gas, as well as some telecommunications, require cutting-edge technology. Treadwell said that in discussions with Palin about balancing development vs. the environment, she typically points to technology as a solution.
In her time as governor, he said she has created a Climate Change Sub-cabinet with two advisory groups, examining how to mitigate and adapt to climate change as well as research energy issues. That research hasn't happened yet, according to Treadwell. She's also proposed an investment fund of several hundred million dollars to finding new energy solutions that would help Alaskans' reduce their dependence on expensive oil and gas, he said.
"I haven't asked for support for the tech industry, but she has seen the writing on the wall and Alaska's need to diversify its energy supply," Treadwell said.
Other tidbits from her record:
• Palin has voted to improve aviation safety with the use of technology. On April 9, Palin signed a bill for a $4.8 million loan program that helps state aircraft owners that install digital link technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, according to the Alaska Journal of Commerce. The technology, which is purportedly 10 times more accurate than radar, uses an ultra-high-frequency radio to send and receive information about other aircraft using the technology. It's supported by the Federal Aviation Administration.
• Last year, Palin made deep cuts in Alaska's budget that affected many local projects, among them several renewable-energy initiatives. Palin's reasoning was to put a cap on cuts, but she vetoed money for a 50-megawatt Fire Island wind project, as well as funds for the Healy Clean Coal Project, a 50-megawatt new-technology coal power plant, according to the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
• In the same budget, Palin upheld a $46.2 million appropriation to finish a 57-mile transmission line to bring surplus hydro power from Lake Tyee to the electricity-hungry Ketchikan, according to the paper.
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