One does not often feel present at the launch of something civilization changing. Electricity was in the air at the recent Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, which attracted a swarm of more than 8,600 energy entrepreneurs, government officials and academics from around the world. The first such gathering was a German government-sponsored meeting in Bonn four years ago that attracted 1,200. In late 2005, the Chinese government held an event that drew 800 people.

Washington's taxi drivers sensed something big was up. One asked me what I knew about wind turbines, since his brother in Kenya wants to sell them. Another cabby wanted to know if plug-in hybrid vehicles were on display at WIREC -- they were -- because he was tired of being mugged at the gas pump.

Inside the Washington Convention Center, the flow of information was fast and deep. A government official from Iceland said that everyone should get rid of the notion that geothermal was just possible in a few remote geographical areas blessed with volcanic activity. Dig deeper, said Össur Skarphédinsson, Iceland Minister of Industry, and energy-starved regions like Africa can tap new energy sources. A congressman told a breakout session of attendees to get ready for seismic change.

"In the next couple of decades, the United States is positioned to be the arsenal of renewable energy," said Rep. Jay Inslee of Washington state.

Develop wind to the point of producing 20 percent of America's electricity, said Terry Hudgens, who heads PPM Energy (recently renamed IBERDROLA RENEWABLES, Inc.), and the country can avoid the cost of importing $250 million a day of natural gas.

John D. Negroponte, U.S. deputy secretary of state, said renewables are in the big leagues. "Renewable energy was a niche market. That is no longer the case. Just ask the investment bankers."

It will take a family of nations to get the world where it needs to go, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the national Development and Reform Commission of China. "It is necessary for us to work together."

Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, said his oil company is investing $1 billion a year in alternative energy but all must commit more resources to energy research and development. "The scale of what's happening today won't have much impact," he said. "We need a step change."

Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and the architect of Khosla Ventures, warned attendees that most energy predictions turn out wrong. But the world's energy picture is about to change profoundly. "It won't take more than 20 years to change the energy picture completely," Khosla said.

Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy and one of the principal organizers of WIREC, later told me, "Renewable energy has now engaged all the governments in the world in a positive way." Collaboration and idea sharing taking place in cavernous meeting halls every few years now multiply and strengthen an emerging global movement.

Out-of-the-box thinking is certain to take the world out of the box it now finds itself in as a result of a dramatic rise in energy use, a shrinking supply of fossil fuel and the threat of global warming. A movement is gaining momentum.

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