Dominion CEO Tom Farrell speaking during the Energy Technology Summit at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise stated, “We do not have the luxury of limiting ourselves to a few sources of energy and excluding others… We need to draw on every resource at our disposal – coal, nuclear, oil, natural gas, renewable power and aggressive and smarter conservation and efficiency programs.”

Farrell stressed that the nation is facing an “energy train wreck” unless we use every option available, and stressed that opponents of coal-powered energy need a reality check -“Those who demonize coal or eliminate its use are, quite honestly, disconnected from reality...They are placing ‘pie in the sky’ above practicality.”

I guess that means anyone supporting the reduction of greenhouse gases and recognizes what elements contribute to global warming has been stricken by the “Demonic Plague.” Who has the disconnect here?

The Wall Street Journal reported on February 4, 2008, that three of the nation’s biggest investment banks: Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are imposing new environmental standards that will make it harder for companies to finance construction of coal-fired plants (see VC’s news archives and related blog). The costly federal penalties for exceeding carbon emissions caps will be so stiff the profitability of such enterprises is questionable.

If you read our posting from the Sunday - April 6, 2008 edition of The Washington Post, “New Focus on Coal’s Part in Warming,” James E. Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute states that nations could use less coal if energy efficiency got more attention. Hansen challenged one of the nation’s largest utilities – Duke Energy, to confront the role their utility plays in global warming. Duke CEO, James Rogers, accepted the challenge but feels Hansen's demands are of a "snap-your-fingers, instant transition of the economy" mentality.

Duke’s Rogers stated that closing down some of their older highly polluting facilities and the construction of new, more efficient coal-fired facilities in New Jersey and Indiana are a step in the right direction for reducing greenhouse gases. He states the Indiana facility has the geology to lend itself to the experimentation of capturing carbon emissions and storing them underground.

The biggest obstacle to overcome is that while the United States and Europe are working towards reducing carbon emissions, other highly developed countries – China and India are not.

While utilities continue to talk about carbon-capture technology, it is not widely available and storing carbon emissions underground is virtually non existent. Britain and Norway have taken the lead to aggressively pursue carbon capture and storage, but according to the deputy director of Britain’s cleaner fossil fuels unit, other countries are not lining up with serious funding for the technology.

Let’s talk more about energy efficiency…read our news posting from the April 3, 2008 edition of Leesburg Today – “County Gov’t Saving Energy, Money Panel Told.” Loudoun County government has saved nearly $1 million thanks to energy efficient measures undertaken by their employees through turning off computers, lights, etc. - whenever possible. They have documented an additional 45 different measures to reduce energy consumption, and the use of hybrid vehicles for mail delivery between different departments and sites. The $1 million savings has prompted the county to plan for the creation of a task force of county staffers from different departments to discuss further reductions and the ultimate costs savings, and they hope to initiate an “Energy Awareness Month.”

On Wednesday, April 16, 2008 the Alliance to Save Energy is holding the Great Energy Efficiency Day at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Their philosophy is: “Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, cleanest way to extend our world's energy supplies.” The American public hasn’t really signed on the dotted line with it. Think about it, it doesn’t cost anything to conserve energy and yields significant financial gain. Tax credits are plentiful...more on that with a later blog.

I plan on attending the Alliance’s day-long event to hear what the nation’s leaders have to say about the “Fifth Fuel.” A visit to their website is very illuminating, with a wealth of information: www.ase.org.

Double-speak is wearing thin - utilities need to put their money where their mouth is. Handing out energy efficient light bulbs and providing a mere pittance towards funding research and development to capture and store carbon emissions underground(i.e. Dominion’s $500,000 to Virginia Tech) just doesn’t cut it. Pepco's Energy Services division is performing energy audits in the DC area, partnering with Virginia Tech and Hannon Armstrong, retrofitting old buildings with the goal of making them more energy efficient by as much as 20 to 50 percent. Dominion might sacrifice too great a profit to consider the same kind of initiative, not to mention - it's important to keep using greater amounts of electricity to justify the need for new transmission lines.

But for now, “To be, or not to be that is the question."