CERA Week: Day Four

POWER DAY - By Ashley Baird - CleanSkies TV News - Houston, TX -

Day 4 of CERAWEEK brought “Power Day”, and with that came a powerful speaker to start the day. Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund gave the morning keynote address, touching on several energy issues, including carbon capture and storage, the potential of a cap and trade bill and his opposition to a carbon tax. Krupp expects to see a cap and trade bill coming out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by Memorial Day. He believes President Obama wants to get climate legislation out of his back pocket before the United States goes to Copenhagen in December 2009. Krupp said that if there is action in Congress on climate change soon, he is optimistic it could play big role for the U.S. regaining stature in the world. CSTV’s Susan McGinnis sat down for a special one-on-one interview with Mr. Krupp, which you can catch on www.cleanskies.tv.

After Krupp’s address, Susan caught up with Philippe Joubert, Executive Vice President of Alstom. Mr. Joubert is speaking on a panel entitled “The Carbon Conundrum” on Friday for the 2nd day of “Power Day”. He told Susan that the world needs coal, oil and gas to generate electricity, and the solution to do that is capture CO2. Joubert said CO2 is an interesting global problem, but a technical solution exists. You can watch this interview this week on www.cleanskies.tv.

Also on Power Day, CSTV’s Margaret Ryan spoke with Kate Hardin, Senior Director on Russian and Caspian Energy Markets at CERA. Hardin leads energy and investment research on issues affecting the former Soviet Union. During the interview, Hardin touched on Russia and Ukraine, saying that while the recent issues have been resolved, there are still more resolutions to come at the end of 2009. You can watch this full interview on www.cleanskies.tv.

CSTV’s Susan McGinnis later interviewed Jon Arnold, Managing Director of Worldwide Power Utilities for Microsoft. Jon said he is thrilled about the energy future at Microsoft. He said right now there is a lot of concentration on renewable energy, but emphasized the importance of a full energy portfolio. Arnold sees that as the U.S. moves towards an evolving energy future, expect to see plenty of changes in the workforce. You can view Arnold’s interview on www.cleanskies.tv.

CSTV’s Margaret Ryan sat down with NRC Commissioner Peter Lyons, who gave us a preview of his Friday speech where he will discuss the role nuclear power will play in electric power generation. Commissioner Lyons said there are currently 17 nuclear plant applications in house at the NRC right now. Lyons said there is a very high level of public interest for the applications. The NRC is also handling license extensions, and he told CSTV that 51 out of 104 plants have been renewed. Lyons believes nuclear energy is part of the solution towards our energy future, but the public will only accept nuclear if it is safe. His main concern is the overall safety picture of nuclear energy. You can watch the full interview this week on www.cleanskies.tv.

For the final interview of the day, CSTV’s Susan McGinnis sat down with Professor Howard Herzog of M.I.T. Professor Herzog gave us a preview of his message he will bring on Friday’s panel entitled “Coal in a Carbon-constrained World”. Herzog believes coal will survive, and that it has thrived and grown, if not in the U.S., he said, then in China and India. Herzog believes carbon capture and storage must play a role if the U.S. were to have 50 to 80 percent emissions reductions by 2050. In order to do so, he says, government support for CCS is vital. Herzog said all the components for CCS are available, and that its just a matter of putting it all together and integrating it. He is pleased that the current stimulus package allots $3.4 billion to clean coal, yet says there is not a lot of detail on how the money will get spent. You can catch this interview on Friday’s Energy Report at 4 PM EASTERN.

Stay tuned for all of our continuing coverage at CERAWEEK 2009 in Houston, Texas, only on www.cleanskies.tv.