Scientist says clean energy is 'achievable'
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 03/08/2008 01:51:04 AM MST
Imagine a world where people can count on getting the energy they need to
live well without trashing the environment and throwing the global climate
out of balance.
“This is achievable,” climate scientist Jeffrey Greenblatt assured his
audience at the Stegner Center's annual symposium Friday. “This is
achievable with current technology.”
Greenblatt's presentation is one of more than a dozen on the theme:
“Alternative Energy: Seeking Climate Change Solutions.”
The discussion concludes today with a keynote speech by author Bill McKibben
at the Marriott University Park in Salt Lake City. And, in typical fashion,
this 13th-annual gathering is examining the subject on a variety of fronts.
Terry Root, a lead author of the Nobel Prize-winning International Panel on
Climate Change report, spoke Friday about the alarming impact climate change
is having on species diversity.
Other presentations focused on carbon-capturing technology, nuclear energy
and the prospects for wind energy.
Lincoln Davies, a law professor at the University of Utah, talked about the
need to rethink the way Americans regulate energy, the environment and,
soon, climate change.
He told how, even though presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush
have recognized the nation's need for a meaningful energy policy, the system
remains broken.
And, still, the nation devotes just a small portion of its research funding
on alternative energy, Davies said. About $1 is spent on alternative energy
research and development for every $3 spent on fossil fuel and nuclear
energy, he said.
Greenblatt, of the group Environmental Defense, discussed the “wedge”
concept of dealing with climate change. He offered specific ideas about how
to use that system, by supplanting about 40 percent of new coal-generated
energy over the next four decades with increased wind power, for instance.
Doing that, along with improvements in vehicle and transportation efficiency
and other energy-saving practices, can accomplish the greenhouse gas
reductions necessary to slow global warming.
fahys@sltrib.com
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