Address at the American Council on Renewable Energy's (ACORE) Annual Policy Conference

Assistant Secretary Alexander Karsner's remarks to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) in Washington, DC.

November 29, 2006

Video of Alexander Karsner's remarks (Windows Media Player 18.1 MB) Download Windows Media Player.

Good morning and welcome to the American Council of Renewable Energy's annual policy conference.

My apologies for the impersonal nature of this pre-recorded message. This is the first time I have ever missed an ACORE Policy Conference and in truth there is nowhere in the world I would have rather been today, than amongst you, my many friends, drawing inspiration and guidance from your infectious enthusiasm and commitment to making this country stronger and more competitive, and our planet more clean and balanced.

Though I cannot be with you in person, I wanted to send you this message to make sure you understand how important your continuing work and advocacy is to our Nation and encourage you to lean even more aggressively in this into this future.

My life and perspective and knowledge base has been so enriched by ACORE conferences and events, both as a private renewable energy developer and proud member, and especially today as a public servant and passionate advocate for implementing and advancing "PHASE II," ACORE's forward leaning strategy for domestic commercialization and deployment of clean, abundant, domestic, cost-effective, secure, reliable renewable energy, so integral and essential to our national agenda.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks on behalf of the Department of Energy to Mike Eckhart, Hank Habicht, Dan Reicher, Roger Ballentine, and all the members of ACORE and the ACORE Board for your leadership and service not only to ACORE, but to our country.

All of you gathered are on the leading edge of change in this country. Your agenda will shape and define the national agenda, and President Bush, Secretary Bodman, and I are proud to support accelerating market penetration of clean energy for transportation and generation as a primary means to address issues of energy security, economic competitiveness, and environmental well-being.

It looks like you have an exciting program set for your conference. And I expect that your meetings will be well-attended. I know that you will have the extraordinary good fortune of hearing from Vivienne Cox from BP, Richard Kelly of Xcel Energy, and my friends Alan Waxman of Goldman Sachs and Tom Friedman of The New York Times this morning.

In a way, I feel very fortunate to be speaking from afar; because they are of such high and exceptional quality, anything I add would pale by comparison.

I told Tom the first time we met, that when I read the "World is Flat" and took in his contrasting the hopefulness and endless possibilities surrounding the events of 11/9 and the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 with the stern and stunning emotions that overwhelmed us on 9/11, it filled me with emotion and touched my heart.

The story was told in the context of the world Tom felt would be inherited by his lovely daughter.

I was in Berlin and took my piece of the Wall in the autumn of 1989, and that hunk of painted rock still reminds me everyday of the world of possibilities I believe in and what inspired me to a life of developing renewable energy and infrastructure in the poorest parts of our world.

Today, we again stand on the precipice of great hope and opportunity, and the people in this room should have every confidence in the power of your ideas and the knowledge that our the hour has arrived and our time has come for both parties to unify the nation, and move forward, together, in a coherent and progressive way.

The Technology, the Economics, and the opportunity is on our side. Time, however is not.

And so we must rise above the fray of politics, and not only do things right; but seek to adjust our course with permanence, so we are continuously doing the right things.

Above all, we must move with urgency, as never before, as we are long past the point where PROBLEM ID is most useful, and well into the time where PROBLEM SOLVING IS FUNDAMENTAL.

The next 24 months will be eventful and momentous, and the things you discuss during this policy conference will be at the center of the national agenda;

If you are like me and have ever had a two year old in your life, you will appreciate my feeling that an extraordinary amount of progress and transformation can occur in a very short period of time.

We can, and I believe we will, lay the foundation for permanently altering the national discourse on the development of renewable energy in America, and make this nation more lean, and clean, and green, and competitive, and secure, and see that our children, mine and yours, inherit their chance to pursue the American dream with the same passion and opportunity that has brought you all here together.

Please know that we will continue to work together closely with Republicans and Democrats, and people of all professions to see that the government is engaged and increasingly agile in ushering a new era of policy, markets, and technological promise on a scale commensurate with the great challenges of our day.

You are patriots with an uncommon sense of purpose and on behalf of President Bush and Secretary Bodman, thank you for who you are and what you do.

Enjoy the conference.