Governor Bill Richardson: Energy, Security, Climate: The First Step is Efficiency

My preferred "think tank" in Washington, D.C. is the New America Foundation, which is decidedly centrist, leaning neither sharply to the left nor sharply to the right. On Friday morning they will have a conference keynoted by (Democratic presidential candidate) Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) entitled "Is Energy Efficiency the Answer?" Bill's keynote is entitled "Energy, Security, Climate: The First Step is Efficiency." The conference blurb tells us that:

In an era of increasingly high oil and gas prices, concerns about CO² emissions, and uncertainty about the security of supply, energy policy has come to dominate political discourse around the world. To date, the energy debate has centered largely on how to secure future energy supply and how to finance research into alternative sources of fuel. While these concerns are important, no energy policy will succeed without first mining our immense energy efficiency opportunities. After all, what's the point of increasing supplies that are destined to be wasted?

Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) will kick-off the event with a major announcement and speech on energy, security and climate policy for the United States.

The good news is that there is a very large opportunity to moderate energy demand growth in economically attractive ways--and, in the process, cut CO₂ emissions. At this important energy and climate policy event, the McKinsey Global Institute will unveil the findings of their ground-breaking report Curbing Global Energy Demand Growth: The Energy Productivity Opportunity, offering a new fact base and policy options to curb energy demand, followed by real-time responses and feedback from experts in both the policy and corporate sectors.

No matter what your position is on global warming and climate change, there is no question that efficiency is a key component of reducing energy consumption that benefits everybody. No dogma or ideology needed.

I really wish I could be in DC for this conference. This is the kind of good stuff that I really miss by not living in DC. And it is free as well.

-- Jack Krupansky