vision2020
Speech on Renewable Energy
Visionaries,
I thought this was a great speech--maybe you'll
agree-- if you can wade through all the Texas-isms,
that is!)
> > Renewable Energy Roundup
> > Fredericksburg, Texas
> > October 1, 02000
> >
> > "The Powerful Future of Texas"
> >
> > Hi, glad to be here. My name's Bruce
> Sterling, I'm
> > from Austin, I'm a science fiction writer.
> >
> > You folks are probably wondering what a
> science
> > fiction writer is doing here in Fredericksburg,
> Texas.
> > Unless I miss my guess, nobody here asked to see a
> science
> > fiction writer. Generally speaking, being a
> science
> > fiction writer, I'm *never* in a place where
> people expect
> > to see me.
> >
> > Let me show you a nice solid for-instance
> here, so
> > you can see that I'm not just pulling all of this
> out of
> > my cowboy hat. See this book of mine? This is
> HACKER
> > CRACKDOWN, a nonfiction book that I wrote about
> computer
> > hackers. I wrote this book ten years ago. When
> I wrote
> > this, my publishers considered this
> computer-hacker stuff
> > to be a seriously futuristic topic. My publishers
> like to
> > think that I'm ahead of my time, because that's
> why they
> > pay me. So, sure, this book was pretty weird and
> wacky,
> > because it was all about guys who did amazing,
> incredible
> > stuff, like using computer networks to send each
> other
> > email.
> >
> > This was back in 1990, so I had to explain to
> the
> > public what a modem was, and all that. You may
> remember
> > those ancient days, if you're old enough.
> "Information
> > Superhighway," and all that. That was some
> mighty far-
> > fetched stuff, am I right? Of course, nowadays,
> ten
> > years later, people read this book and they
> consider it a
> > historical text.
> >
> > So today, ten years later, you can't swing a
> cat in
> > my home town without whacking an Internet
> millionaire.
> > Society has definitely moved in that direction,
> and a
> > place that was once the future has become where
> it's at.
> >
> > But it's not 1990, it's 2000. So here I am in
> some
> > tent with weirdos who like windmills.
> >
> > But why the town of Fredericksburg, you may
> well ask?
> > After all, if you're an author and journalist like
> I am,
> > and you want to hang out with green energy people,
> with
> > renewable energy people, a common destination is
> Denmark.
> > These Danish guys are getting a lot of press with
> their
> > wind-power thing. These Danes are international
> wind-
> > patch roughnecks. Some of them are even working
> in Texas.
> > If you happen to be a Danish wind-power guy out
> there in
> > the audience today, hey, I'm a major fan of you
> Danes.
> > Welcome to Texas. You guys rock. Great furniture.
> A
> > cheese Danish, that's a delicious pastry.
> >
> > But I'm not in Denmark, I'm in Fredericksburg.
> Now,
> > in order to explain to you why I am so
> passionately
> > devoted to the cause of this little festival, I
> have to
> > unburden myself of some Texas history. On my
> dad's
> > side, I'm a third-generation Texan. And on my
> mother's
> > side == she was Valley people, from south of San
> Antonio
> > == I'm a seventh-generation Texan. I am one
> small,
> > singular example of two huge Texan clans, with
> very
> > traditional Texan lineages in cattle-ranching and
> oil.
> > Even though I happen to be Mr Chrome-Plated Robots
> and
> > Rocketships here, I'm also an extremely native
> Texan. I
> > am related by blood and marriage to probably half
> of this
> > state.
> >
> > I also happen to live in your state's
> capital. I
> > went to the University there, got married there,
> had
> > two children there, and I built a house there.
> I'm a very
> > ardent and patriotic Austinite. Even to the point
> of
> > being slightly cranky about it, frankly.
> >
> > Now ladies and gentlemen, the big news in my
> home
> > town of Austin, your state's capital, is that the
> summer
> > of the year 2000 is finally over. That was much
> bigger
> > news than the end of summer has ever been before.
> A lot
> > of my fellow Austinites are already trying very
> hard to
> > forget what happened to us in the evil summer of
> the year
> > 2000. Far be it from me to claim that us
> Austinites,
> > swilling our Starbucks coffee and kicking around
> in our
> > beatnik sandals, suffered any worse this summer
> than
> > Dallas, or Houston, or even glamorous Dime Box and
> > Muleshoe. But I do need to share with you a kind
> of
> > executive summary of that summer, so that you can
> see what
> > propels a futurist into your little rodeo here.
> >
> > This summer, Austin recorded the highest
> > temperatures ever seen in the history of the town.
> It
> > was 110 degrees Fahrenheit on Labor Day. That was
> a
> > brand-new weather record. It has literally never
> been
> > that hot in the city of Austin, ever. But that
> was by no
> > means all, because next day it was 112 degrees.
> Last
> > summer, Austin lived through over forty days with
> > temperatures over a hundred degrees. Our lakes
> are forty
> > feet below normal. Rivers, wells and streams have
> dried
> > up all over the area. Plus, a drought all
> across Texas
> > has cost us about a billion dollars in
> agricultural
> > losses, so far.
> >
> > Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't make any of
> this up.
> > It's amazing and astonishing, but this is not
> science
> > fiction. Look at this, I took the trouble to
> bring you
> > some hard evidence. This is the front page of
> our
> > newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, for
> September 6,
> > 2000, twenty-five days ago. "One hundred twelve
> degrees
> > == a new extreme," this says. "Power outages,
> wildfires
> > leave thousands in lurch." This is not science
> fiction
> > about some possible Greenhouse Effect in Texas.
> This is
> > the actual, no-kidding Greenhouse Effect in Texas.
> >
> > Let me demonstrate to you the vital difference
> here
> > between predicting the future and living in it.
> Because
> > I'm a science fiction writer, I actually *have*
> some
> > science fiction about the Greenhouse Effect in
> Texas. You
> > see this book? This is a science fiction novel
> called
> > HEAVY WEATHER. I wrote this book back in 1993.
> *Then*
> > it was science fiction about the Greenhouse Effect
> in
> > Texas. You didn't see much in the way of this
> newspaper
> > when I was writing this-here science fiction book.
> But
> > we're sure seeing it now. And like they say up in
> > Aggieland, wait till next year.
> >
> > Nowadays, it's quite hard to find any issue of
> any
> > daily newspaper that doesn't have some kind of
> extreme
> > weather event mentioned in it. Not necessarily in
> Texas,
> > of course. Sometimes there is extreme weather in
> Mexico,
> > or Honduras, or Indonesia, or India, or
> Bangladesh. Or
> > the North Pole, or the South Pole, or Switzerland,
> or
> > subsaharan Africa. Pretty much all over, really.
> I read
> > about bad weather, I've been interested in the
> science of
> > meteorology for quite a while, but I don't break
> into a
> > big sweat about every single newspaper report.
> But I
> > surely do break into a big sweat when it's a
> hundred and
> > twelve degrees in my own front yard in Austin,
> Texas.
> > Because if you don't sweat when you're in a
> hundred and
> > twelve degree heat, you die real fast. Besides,
> that is
> > my home.
> >
> > There's no big-deal surprise about this
> Greenhouse
> > Effect thing. This is not a sudden, shocking
> event. This
> > has been a very slow, methodical trend which is
> easy to
> > follow if you're paying any attention. The first
> time a
> > serious scientist wrote about the Greenhouse
> Effect, it
> > was back in the 1890s. That was over a hundred
> years ago.
> > Climate experts were talking very seriously about
> this
> > stuff back in 1970, back in 1980. It's not any
> big
> > surprise. The only possible way to get all
> surprised
> > about this situation is to ignore it on purpose.
> >
> > You can ignore it, and you always try to
> explain
> > away any particular episode of bad weather. You
> can
> > always say it's just "freak weather," for
> instance.
> > Folks, this is the secret, okay? In a Greenhouse
> Effect,
> > the freak weather *is* the normal weather.
> >
> > I can understand why people would want to
> deny this,
> > and really go out on a limb to avoid facing the
> truth.
> > It's an unpleasant, scary thing to admit that the
> weather
> > is seriously acting up. It's a very hard thing
> to have
> > to tell to your kids, for instance -- your kids
> *are* the
> > future, they're the ones who have to live there.
> >
> > So unless I'm totally preaching to the
> converted
> > here, there's probably somebody out there who
> would like
> > to argue with me. Maybe we can talk later. I've
> got a
> > table here, I'm hanging out at this jamboree right
> over
> > there, next to the designer-gizmo collection,
> kinda doing
> > my Greenhouse Activist thing.
> >
> > But let's not try to argue me out of it.
> Instead, I
> > want you to imagine arguing *yourself* out of it.
> Just
> > imagine yourself taking this newspaper from the
> year 2000
> > AD, back to the year 1980. Just imagine showing
> this
> > newspaper to people walking around in the year
> 1980, you
> > know, guys with green hair and women in torn
> fishnet
> > stockings, and telling them, "See? Look, here's a
> > newspaper from your future! What do you think
> about
> > that?"
> >
> > What do you think people from 1980 they would
> say if
> > they read this newspaper? I'll tell you what they
> would
> > say. "A hundred and twelve degrees!" they would
> say.
> > "Good Lord, the Greenhouse Effect is kicking us
> from hell
> > to breakfast!"
> >
> > Of course, once you're actually in the middle
> of a
> > Greenhouse Effect, it's a lot harder to say things
> like
> > that. Because now that you're actually getting
> cooked in
> > your own home, you have to feel that it's like,
> somehow,
> > *your own fault.* All of a sudden you find
> yourself
> > saying things like, "Uh, maybe all this climate
> change
> > thing is just alarmism," and "Gee, don't let those
> people
> > from Kyoto tax us," and "Oh my gosh, I sure am
> paying a
> > lot for this gasoline."
> >
> > These are perfectly natural things to want
> to say,
> > so a lot of people are saying them. The only
> problem is
> > that you're also forced to say other things, much
> uglier
> > and scarier things, like "Man, I sure do wish it
> would
> > rain," and "Hey, all the peach trees in my lawn
> just
> > died," and "Wow, my Grandma just had a heat stroke
> on the
> > way from her house to her car."
> >
> > I know this seems kinda scary, but this part
> is not
> > the scary part. This is the *early* part of the
> 21st
> > century. All of the *big* stuff lies ahead of us.
> The
> > scary part comes when we imagine a guy from the
> year 2020
> > showing up here with *his* newspaper. Because if
> he's
> > breaking this year's heat records, if he's
> breaking this
> > year's drought records, then Texas is in a very
> different
> > and very unpleasant world.
> >
> > Ladies and gentlemen, Texas is my home. This
> place
> > is where I take my stand. That was my homeland
> and my
> > front yard baking in September 2000 at a hundred
> and
> > twelve degrees. That is not something I am
> prepared to
> > passively accept.
> >
> > Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me take a
> moment to
> > talk about this global climate problem from a
> strictly
> > Texan perspective. Never mind El Nino, and
> emissions
> > rates, and the Kyoto Treaty, and the ozone layer,
> and
> > isobars, and all that. Instead, I would like to
> talk a
> > little bit about our regional character as a
> people, about
> > who we Texans are. I know this isn't strictly a
> > politically correct thing to do in a sophisticated
> era of
> > high-speed globalism, but this is Fredericksburg,
> so I
> > think maybe I can get away with it, if I thicken
> my drawl
> > and visit a spell with my own neighbors.
> >
> > Well, it's no use judging us by imaginary
> standards of
> > absolute perfection. Let's face it, even Denmark
> looks
> > pretty bad in those circumstances. What kind of
> people
> > are we? What should we properly expect of
> ourselves?
> > We're not New York, we're not California. But
> that's not
> > our problem; that only looks like our problem if
> you hail
> > from one of those other places.
> >
> > We Texans need to be properly seen in our own
> > context. In order to be understood as a people,
> we
> > Texans need to be compared to the people who are
> closest
> > to us, our nearest and dearest neighbors, the
> people of
> > our own world locale, the people who share some of
> our own
> > history and our own values and our heritage. In
> other
> > words, Louisiana and Mexico. Louisiana and
> Mexico: two
> > places I cherish, ladies and gentlemen. Looking
> at them
> > never fails to cheer me right the heck up.
> >
> > Those are our two true peers as societies.
> They are
> > the proper scale of comparison: how do us Texans
> make out,
> > compared to Louisiana and Mexico? Well, if you go
> to New
> > Orleans or Mexico City, and talk to those fine
> people
> > about Texans, and what their neighbors the Texans
> are
> > really like, you get a remarkable portrait.
> >
> > You get the firm impression that Texans are
> > incredibly rich, smart, energetic people. Texans
> have
> > wads of money and keen business sense. People in
> New
> > Orleans are convinced that Texans have bought up
> pretty
> > much everything in New Orleans worth buying. In
> fact,
> > there's a haze of Texan imperialism that stretches
> way out
> > to Colorado, where there are guys who dress like
> John
> > Denver wandering around in their mountains
> wondering why
> > Texans get to use all their snow.
> >
> > So ladies and gentlemen, while I regret my
> native
> > state's various political and cultural
> shortcomings, such
> > as our widely-noted illiteracy, poverty and prison
> rates,
> > you're not going to see me leaving Texas and
> writing my
> > books somewhere else. Expecially when our
> congenial
> > Governor may become President and his charming
> wife is a
> > librarian.
> >
> > Now let me invite you to take a closer look at
> this
> > very alarming Texan newspaper. Let's forget this
> > terrifying headline up here, because that's only
> the
> > obvious part. Instead, let's look down at this
> lower
> > front-page headline. It's in smaller print, so
> I'll have
> > to read it aloud to you. It says: "Tech Trio from
> Austin
> > Among '40 Richest Under 40.'"
> >
> > What is this article about? Well, this would
> be
> > Fortune magazine's list of the richest people in
> America.
> > Who have we got here? Since this is Texas-rich,
> I'd be
> > guessing these must be semi-literate cattle
> barons, or
> > maybe country folk-singers of some kind... But no,
> this
> > would appear to be Mr. Michael Dell of Dell
> Computer, Mr.
> > Joe Liemandt of Trilogy Software, and Mr. Navdeep
> Sooch,
> > the co-founder and chief executive of Silicon
> Laboratories
> > Incorporated.
> >
> > This is an interesting newspaper page,
> because if you
> > put these two articles together, it strongly
> implies that
> > Texans are in a position to do something useful
> and
> > creative about our situation. We're not at
> death's door
> > here. We're not selling apples and begging for
> nickels.
> > Texas is rich! We're in the midst of a massive
> economic
> > boom. The United States has been in a bull
> market since
> > 1982 that has a fifteen percent a year rate of
> return.
> >
> > Major industries are reinventing themselves
> all
> > around us. Cities are reinventing themselves all
> around
> > us. Your capital city is a vast mess of cranes
> and trench
> > diggers, with Help Wanted signs in every window
> and people
> > pouring in around the clock.
> >
> > We're rich, we're high tech, we're fast and
> smart,
> > and yet we're roasting ourselves and our children
> in our
> > own exhaust fumes. Ladies and gentlemen, those
> two
> > situations just don't add up.
> >
> > There's a new business model due. And I'm
> thinking
> > Texas may be just the place for it. When it comes
> to
> > energy, we Texans have an often overlooked, but
> rather
> > important advantage. Because when it comes to
> the energy
> > business, we Texans actually know what we are
> talking
> > about. Unlike people who theorize about energy,
> we have
> > lived there. Texas is not the kind of state where
> you
> > just write an indignant letter to the editor and
> some
> > energy mysteriously appears. Around here, you
> roll up
> > your sleeves and you dig down into the dirt.
> >
> > Folks, a serious energy business is a tough,
> > complicated, hands-on enterprise. Houston has a
> lot of
> > rich people. You may have noticed that
> Houstonians dress
> > much better than us Austinites. They have a lot
> of lovely
> > things like theaters, museums and designer gowns.
> Do you
> > think those rich people in Houston want to live in
> the
> > most polluted city in the USA? They're not
> breathing that
> > smog because they enjoy it. They're doing it
> because
> > Houston is a huge refinery metropolis.
> Houstonians didn't
> > build all those gas flares and catalytic cracking
> units
> > just to gratify themselves. Those aren't
> ornamental
> > structures. Those are huge industrial
> enterprises run by
> > some of the biggest megacorporations on earth.
> >
> > The Spindletop oil field came in in 1901. It
> has
> > taken us Texans one hundred long years to create
> the vast
> > energy infrastructure in Texas. People didn't do
> this by
> > accident. It took hard work and even genius to do
> this to
> > ourselves. It took Thomas Edison to do this, to
> turn day
> > into night with electricity. It took Henry Ford
> to give
> > people mass mobility. And it took John D.
> Rockefeller to
> > create the financial and distribution
> infrastructure of
> > what is still the mightiest industrial enterprise
> in the
> > world.
> >
> > If all those refineries in Houston shut
> down
> > tomorrow, all the people in Houston will breathe a
> lot
> > easier, and some people in Houston will lose a
> whole lot
> > of money. But if those refineries in Houston shut
> down,
> > people in New England will freeze in the dark.
> >
> > I know our friends in New England have got
> some
> > energy. They've got some nuclear plants that
> they're
> > really afraid of, and they've got some nice little
> > renewable hydroelectric dams that must be 300
> years old.
> > It's not their fault that the energy business is
> not a
> > core regional enterprise. We've got a serious
> maple-syrup
> > shortage here in Texas. I'm sure the two of us can
> find
> > some way to do business. My point is that it is
> no easy
> > thing to build a professional, reliable,
> national-scale
> > energy infrastructure. Energy is a serious
> matter of
> > physics and engineering, energy isn't made from
> wishful
> > thinking, crystal balls and pixie dust. It's hard
> work,
> > it's serious, it takes real skill and investment.
> And,
> > for all of the twentieth century, the energy
> business has
> > been really dirty and actively dangerous.
> >
> > I happen to be a major enthusiast for clean
> renewable
> > energy. But I like to approach this matter
> Texas-style.
> > That's why I am an energy industry booster. I'm
> not under
> > any illusion that renewable energy is gonna happen
> merely
> > because I stand here yakking about it. Renewable
> energy
> > is going to happen because there is going to be a
> huge,
> > powerful, renewable energy industry. That new
> system has
> > to rip up the old fossil system root and branch,
> and
> > replace that vast dirty machine with a vast new
> clean
> > machine, around the entire world. There is no
> other way
> > to succeed.
> >
> > This must be made to happen in real life on a
> titanic
> > scale. Energy is not imaginary. Energy is what
> > physically happens whenever you reach out and turn
> Henry
> > Ford's ignition key. It's what physically happens
> > whenever you reach out and flick Thomas Edison's
> light
> > switch. They called John Rockefeller a "Titan"
> because his
> > enterprise was titanic. Energy is billions of
> real people
> > doing common things billions of time every day.
> >
> > Today, whenever most folks use energy, there is
> a puff
> > of smoke somewhere. In a car, that smoke pours
> out
> > right behind you. With a light bulb, the smoke
> puffs up a
> > smokestack somewhere miles away. We Texans did it
> > ourselves. Since 1901, we dug up millions of
> barrels from
> > the soil of Texas and sold it and burned it. That
> is why
> > the hot summer sky frowned upon us in the year
> 2000. That
> > is why the stars at night are no longer bright
> deep in the
> > heart of Texas.
> >
> > Renewable energy isn't magic. It's energy. If
> it were
> > easy, we would have done it during the first oil
> shock in
> > the 1970s, instead of hanging around waiting for
> the
> > latest one. We Texans are taking a beating from
> oil
> > prices just like everybody else. Texas used to
> get rich
> > off oil. Some Texans still get rich off oil. But
> Texas
> > is losing big money, because in the year 2000,
> Texans
> > import more oil than we export. We crossed over
> in the
> > early 1990s. We subsidize our own renewables a
> little
> > bit, but we're real, real busy subsidizing OPEC.
> We've
> > become a net energy importing state, just like our
> fellow
> > Americans in the states of New England. At the
> prospect
> > of a shortfall in oil or a price spike in natural
> gas, we
> > Texans have to get that same panicky look as
> everyone
> > else. That's a very strange look for Texans to
> have. I
> > don't like that look very much. I don't think
> that look
> > belongs on our faces.
> >
> > Renewable energy cannot be judged by
> imaginary
> > standards of absolute perfection. Renewable
> energy has to
> > be compared to its own neighbors, the industries
> that
> > share its heritage: coal, oil, and nuclear. Big,
> hard,
> > tough enterprises. You're not doing energy people
> any
> > favors when you pretend that sustainable energy
> is simple
> > and easy. This is wrongheaded, because you are
> telling
> > them that they have no skills and no
> understanding, that
> > the modern energy situation is just an accident.
> The
> > people of Texas spent a hundred years, five
> generations,
> > arranging this accident. It was a very big job.
> >
> > One of the things outsiders tend to notice
> about
> > Texas is that we have pipelines all over the
> place.
> > Commonly they blow up and fry people. Those
> pipelines
> > didn't grow there by themselves like poison ivy.
> They
> > exist to move energy from place to place, and for
> no other
> > reason. Energy is a patchy resource. All energy
> is
> > always patchy. If it's liquid, like oil, you've
> got to
> > move it in a pipe. If it's voltage, like wind,
> you have
> > to build transmission towers. If it's nuclear,
> you have
> > to dig it up somewhere, and then you have to
> really,
> > really wonder where to put the garbage when you're
> done.
> >
> > Big wind is big. We've never seen wind as
> big as
> > wind has got to get if wind power takes a serious
> bite out
> > of oil and nuclear. The blades of a windmill get
> more
> > efficient when they sweep out a big radius, a big
> windmill
> > gets more energy out of the breeze that way. That
> is a
> > law of physics, you can't change that by holding
> your
> > breath.
> >
> > We're talking wind derricks here. We're
> talking
> > industrial installations on the scale of offshore
> oil
> > rigs. We're talking a forest of whirring, moaning
> steel
> > the like of which the world has never seen.
> We're
> > talking major capital investments with large
> cadres of
> > welders, and pipefitters, and expert managers.
> >
> > If you put all that hardware in downtown
> Boston,
> > people would get all stuffy about it. But I think
> we can
> > put it in Texas and deal with it. Why? Because
> it's a
> > hundred times cleaner and safer than the energy
> > infrastructure that we already built! It's no
> use trying
> > to scare us about windmills, because we live next
> door to
> > giant reservoirs of liquefied petroleum gas!
> >
> > Solar is patchy, too. I happen to have some
> solar
> > on my house. I've got solar photovoltaic, a bunch
> of big
> > panels the size of movie posters. I've had them
> up on my
> > roof for about six months now, and in that time,
> I've
> > produced about 3 megawatt-hours of whoop-te-do
> clean green
> > renewable energy. Solar photovoltaic is a
> technology
> > that I live with intimately now. I can literally
> see it
> > in my own back yard. I'm so proud of those
> silicon
> > gizmos that my friends snicker about it behind my
> back.
> >
> > "Imagine a world where energy is so clean it
> causes
> > zero pollution and so simple you hardly know it's
> there."
> > It sounds really good, doesn't it? But I didn't
> say that.
> > An oil company said that. You can read it on
> their
> > website.
> >
> > But folks, that's still technology, that's not
> magic.
> > When the sun sets in Austin Texas, God makes it
> set burnt
> > orange, but the sun still sets every day. There's
> no such
> > thing as *lunar* energy.
> >
> > Solar can get cheaper than it is, solar can
> get more
> > efficient, and it wouldn't kill us if a solar
> panel was a
> > much sexier and more attractive consumer item,
> either.
> > But the earth is not gonna stop turning on its
> axis just
> > because us clean energy enthusiasts might find
> that
> > convenient. The sun over Austin is not gonna stop
> setting
> > just because austinenergy.com == a fine,
> upstanding outfit
> > == got me some nice, quiet, clean solar panels
> that can
> > turn Texas sunlight into voltage.
> >
> > My profound hope is that the people of Texas,
> who
> > have suffered and struggled with an energy
> business for
> > 100 years, can deal with facts of life like
> this.
> > That Texans can lead the way into a new energy
> industry
> > by finding the will, the courage, the persistence
> and the
> > skill to carry out the necessary actions to free
> ourselves
> > from a dead technology. And I don't want us to
> do this
> > out of the goodness of our hearts, either. I want
> us to
> > do this for the same reason we always did it:
> because it
> > pays.
> >
> > Where else are the American people going to
> look for
> > energy solutions? California is a likely
> candidate. We
> > Texans have a lot in common with Californians.
> We're both
> > nice big states, we both have politicians who
> really
> > hanker to be President, and when it comes to
> high-tech
> > ingenuity, the great state of California is truly
> second
> > to none. Both Texas and California, I might add,
> > underwent extensive reform of their energy
> utilities.
> > California in 1996, Texas lagging along in 1999.
> >
> > Unfortunately for my good friends in Silicon
> Valley,
> > however, California's energy policy is a dreadful
> mess.
> > They had a massive heat wave in the summer of 2000
> just
> > like we did, but while they were running those air
> > conditioners, they somehow forgot to build enough
> new
> > capacity. So California has been pestered by
> rolling
> > brownouts and tremendous cost spikes. In fact,
> California
> > was so petrified by the awful summer of 2000 that
> they
> > have launched one of their famous consumer
> revolts.
> > Pacific Gas and Electric has lost 2.2 billion
> dollars
> > since June. Utility bills tripled in San Diego.
> Other
> > people, their neighbors in Nevada for instance,
> are
> > looking over their border at the shining example
> of
> > California, and saying: oh well, there's just no
> way.
> >
> > This is not merely an American problem.
> Consider
> > the grand examples of France and Britain this
> summer.
> > Britain, which pumps a lot of oil out of the North
> Sea,
> > nevertheless has a very progressive fuel tax.
> France and
> > Britain had a lot of high-minded attempts to
> politically
> > impose some stern energy discipline from on high.
> > France buckled under in a big hurry. A little
> later, two
> > thousand angry truck drivers were able to bring
> Britain to
> > its knees. Britain and France just had a good
> old
> > fashioned, cars-round-the-block energy crisis,
> 1970s
> > style. Hospitals shutting down, mail not getting
> > delivered, oh brother. Germany had big problems,
> too.
> >
> > Then there's Texas. We also had utility
> reform. We
> > had some price hikes. However, you may have
> noticed that
> > the people of Texas have not taken to the streets.
> We had
> > our share of summer brownout scares, but nowhere
> near as
> > bad as California's. We also have the most
> ambitious
> > renewable energy program in the nation. We were
> supposed
> > to have 2000 megawatts of clean power on line by
> 2009.
> > We're probably gonna have that done by 2002.
> >
> > How did this happen? Well, it's about two
> things,
> > basically: a well-crafted renewable energy
> requirement,
> > and non-discriminatory electricity transmission
> rules.
> > Those two things sound pretty obscure. You're not
> gonna
> > see anybody running around with protest signs
> demanding
> > those things. They don't get a lot of spin from
> political
> > commentators on television.
> >
> > Nevertheless, that is what it takes in the
> real world.
> > In other words, somebody has to tell utilities to
> do clean
> > energy, and then, somebody has to see that
> utilities
> > actually pay for the juice that they get. This
> doesn't
> > sound all that complicated. However, we Texans
> seem to be
> > the only people in America who are really pulling
> it off.
> >
> > We're not going broke doing this. This is
> not some
> > free-market interference thing. There is no free
> market
> > in energy: OPEC is a cartel. That's a non-issue.
> The
> > people of Texas have scarcely noticed the change,
> even
> > though it's a big success. This renewables thing
> isn't a
> > big stinking partisan issue here. Our Republican
> Governor
> > signed that bill. He's an oil man, so I guess
> that is
> > supposed to make any act of energy reform
> completely
> > impossible, but people, this is Texas. We're all
> oil
> > people here.
> >
> > Oil was our state's industrial base for 100
> years.
> > There's scarcely a single native Texan who didn't
> have
> > friends, relatives, loved ones in some aspect of
> the oil
> > business. When we can also say that about the
> wind
> > business, and the solar business, and the biomass
> > business, then we will have won. That is the
> Texan
> > victory condition. It doesn't require a panic,
> and a
> > crisis, and the politics of personal destruction.
> It just
> > needs good sense and a steady hand.
> >
> > I'm from Austin. In Austin we have something
> called
> > the Austin Green Choice program. When I pay for
> > electricity, I don't pay for any coal, oil or even
> > nuclear. I only buy wind, solar and biomass. I
> used to
> > pay a five dollar premium a month for this. Five
> whopping
> > dollars for renewable energy, ladies and
> gentlemen. Of
> > course, that was before OPEC started getting antsy
> this
> > season. Now there's been a big price spike in
> natural
> > gas. That means I am currently spending $1.37 a
> month for
> > all-green power. A dollar thirty-seven, folks.
> I would
> > scorn to leave that kind of money as a tip.
> >
> > This isn't some amazing run-around here.
> Nobody had
> > to bend over like a pretzel to make this happen
> in
> > Austin. We have the cheapest green energy in the
> United
> > States, and people in the rest of Texas, and
> America,
> > don't even know that's possible. It's plenty
> possible.
> > I'm doing it right now. So are IBM and Apple in
> Austin.
> > You can sign up for it on-line. It's the way
> forward.
> >
> > I don't think oil companies are inherently
> evil. I
> > think oil was a necessary technical step. My own
> father
> > worked for an oil company. I am a child of the
> Texan oil
> > industry. Oil put food on my table. Oil bought
> me my
> > shoes, and put a roof over my head. Oil got me a
> first-
> > class college education at a first-class
> oil-supported
> > university. I know what oil looks like. I grew
> up on
> > the Gulf Coast in the 1950s, when the smog used to
> rot
> > screens off windows and peel paint off the cars.
> Oil
> > also gave me a life of education and privilege
> that made
> > possible the life I enjoy today.
> >
> > If it hadn't been for my father's Texan oil
> > industry, I probably would have worked in my
> grandfather's
> > industry instead: ranching and farming. I am a
> rancher's
> > grandson and an oil man's son. Folks, I know
> what
> > ranching looks like. I'm up here shaking books
> and
> > newspapers at you, but I've dug postholes. I've
> branded
> > cattle. I've strung barbed wire and cut back
> cedar and
> > croton weed and stinging nettle. I've seen
> ranchers
> > struggle and suffer with Texas weather, which has
> always
> > been harsh and punitive, but never like it is
> today. I
> > fully understand why my Dad spent his youth doing
> ranch
> > work, and why he left as soon as he could to go to
> college
> > and work in oil.
> >
> > But my father is gone now, and both my
> grandfathers
> > are gone, but Texas is still here. The land of
> this
> > great state was here before we dug up any oil, and
> it's
> > gonna be here long, long after we stop. The
> question is
> > badly do we mistreat it, how badly do we abuse it,
> how
> > badly do we sell out our kids and betray our
> heritage in a
> > false loyalty to a dying industry. I'm an oil
> company
> > kid through and through, but I know what's coming
> to us if
> > we try to stretch the 20th century into the middle
> of the
> > 21st. It is unconscionable. I just refuse to do
> it. No
> > more! I won't cooperate! I won't collaborate!
> >
> > And most directly to the point: *I won't
> pay.*
> >
> > When my dad went from the farm to the factory,
> that
> > was part of a huge industrial change that Texas
> was
> > undergoing. He didn't have to be chased there by
> force of
> > arms. When we move out of the old smokestacks and
> into
> > the new sustainable networks, with any kind of
> luck,
> > nobody much will notice. I've got every kind of
> grudge
> > against the use of coal and oil. I think it's
> foul, it's
> > backwards, and it's poisonous. But I got nothing
> at all
> > against energy companies. On the contrary, I
> think
> > they're kind of cute. I'm a big fan. I'm here
> waving
> > pompoms.
> >
> > My Dad used to work for Amoco Oil. They
> were good
> > to him, he was a loyal employee. There is no
> Amoco now.
> > There's a successor company that bought Amoco.
> It's a
> > global company that's run by a British guy,
> called "BP."
> > It used to be British Petroleum. There is no more
> British
> > Petroleum, either. It's just "BP" now. Or, as
> they like
> > to call themselves, "Beyond Petroleum."
> >
> > Sometimes I hear from environmental activists
> who think
> > these BP guys are kidding when they say that they
> plan to
> > go "beyond petroleum." When they say that they're
> the
> > biggest solar company in the world. Because
> after all,
> > they're oil people. Which can only mean oil then,
> oil
> > now, oil forever. These critics are wrong. These
> are
> > guys so used to defeat, so blinkered, that they've
> > forgotten how to recognize a victory. They're
> fanatical
> > and stodgy, they don't get it. BP *is* the
> biggest solar
> > company in the world. BP's *gas stations alone*
> are one
> > of the biggest solar markets in the world. BP can
> be a
> > huge renewables outfit just selling solar *to
> itself.*
> >
> > When you tell certain people this fact of
> life, they
> > get that stunned look on their face. "But isn't
> there
> > something incredibly ironic about a gas station
> running on
> > solar energy?" Who *cares*? Irony isn't the
> problem.
> > I'm a novelist: I can give you irony by the
> truckload, all
> > the irony you can eat. The sky is full of
> greenhouse
> > gases, it's not full of irony.
> >
> > I'm not a Greenhouse activist because I
> despise and
> > fear oil companies. I'm a Greenhouse activist
> because I'm
> > the *adult survivor* of a *dead* oil company. I
> *like*
> > the idea of Texan energy companies. I think that
> people
> > around Fredericksburg ought to be wealthy wind
> moguls. A
> > guy gets kind of tired of looking at rich oil
> sheiks for
> > thirty years, it just gets monotonous. They got
> plenty of
> > sun and sand in the Mideast. Let 'em build solar
> cells,
> > like we do.
> >
> > I got one more thing to show you before I
> leave.
> >
> > Look at this shirt. See this cool black
> T-shirt I'm
> > wearing? Like a lot of Austinites, I take my
> fashion
> > cues from the West Coast. That is why I'm wearing
> an
> > environmentalist T-shirt from San Francisco. It's
> from
> > "PlaNetwork," the conference for "Planetary
> Ecology and
> > Digital Technology." I wish I could stop and
> explain to
> > you how incredibly hip and with-it this PlaNetwork
> thing
> > was, but there's just no time. Suffice it to say
> that
> > Julia Butterfly was there, and Butterfly was
> knocking 'em
> > dead.
> >
> > Now look at this other, cool black T-shirt.
> This is
> > the new BP t-shirt. It goes along with their new
> ad
> > campaign, the one with the fantastic new green
> computer
> > logo.
> >
> > Now, I'm going to change the handsome black
> T-shirt
> > I'm wearing, for this energy company black
> T-shirt. I
> > want you to watch me as literally pull the shirt
> right off
> > my back here, and put on this other one. I want
> you to
> > tell me if you see any real, substantive
> difference in the
> > way I look or behave after this experience. I
> want you
> > folks to tell me if the sudden contradiction is
> somehow
> > just too much for you. Let me know if your head
> explodes
> > or anything, okay? (((Speaker changes shirts.)))
> >
> > Nice shirt, huh?
> >
> > That's all I have to say, ladies and
> gentlemen.
> > Thank you for your kind indulgence.
> >
> > O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
> > WE'VE STRUCK WIND!
> > O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
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