Part motivational speaker, part humorist, part
humanitarian, and part political commentator, former
President Bill Clinton was a keynote speaker at the
Solar Power International conference held in Orlando
last week.
He dazzled the audience of a full ballroom and two
overflow halls while extolling solar energy. And he
mildly chastised the industry for not trumpeting its
successes an allowing its opponents to dwell on its
failures.
“Americans need to know” was an oft-repeated refrain
as Clinton discussed green energy jobs,
technological innovations, global competitiveness
and other topics that solar and other renewable
energy participants all know well. But the general
public may not, as he pointed out.
“I’m preaching to the saved here and I know that,”
Clinton said early in his remarks, and for more than
an hour of speechmaking and answering questions, a
litany of facts, figures, anecdotes, jokes and
commentary moved seamlessly from domestic energy
policy to the upcoming election, to the work of his
Clinton Global Initiative in the developing world.
“We’re going to win the battle and the only
questions are when, where and how,” he
said.
Mainstream media and television cameras were
banned from the hall, on instructions from his
staff, according to conference organizers, while
only a handful of trade press reporters were allowed
in the hall.
The topics were familiar. The country as a whole
doesn’t realize more than 100,000 people work in the
solar industry – “more than in the coal industry” –
or that the sector continued to grow, even during
the depths of the recession.
The battle lines in Congress are well-defined.
“People on the other side think the president and
Congress totally robbed the Treasury,” while clean
energy was creating jobs and new companies.
Solyndra was never put in the proper context, he
said. He mildly chastised the renewable energy
industry for letting its opponents frame the debate
and shape the public narrative of the causes of the
bankruptcy: an “interesting technology” that was
undercut by a rapidly changing market, partly aided
and abetted by Chinese subsidies that put several
companies on the brink. “The Solyndra failure
represents less than 1% of the investment portfolio”
of federal guarantees, he added.
Some barbs were pointed: oil producers subsidies
date back to 1916.
The economic vision was mainstream Democratic. “In
no country is there an energy policy that doesn’t
involve a government and industry partnership.” And
even global warming is a justification, as the
worldwide reinsurance industry calculates its
effects and the current prevailing wisdom that says
“it’s toxic to mention climate change” is wrong.
And political commentary was humorous, but frank. “I
can say this now because I’m no longer running for
office,” Clinton said, as he dismissed the
conventional wisdom that says candidates will
placate their constituencies when the uninformed
voters aren’t paying much attention, but will govern
differently once the elections are over.
“Politicians mean what they are saying in the
campaign (and will enact those policies if they are
able), so what they are doing now, you need to pay
attention.”
But as he closed his remarks, Clinton expressed
confidence that a ”tipping point” he could not
accurately predict, would make solar even more
mainstream as rooftop systems proliferate.
Bill Opalka is editor of RenewablesBiz, where
this story first appeared.
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