U.S. must lead shift to 'green economy,' energy secretary tells Clemson symposium

Published: November 30, 2009

Energy secretary Steven Chu addresses the symposium. image by: Clemson University

GREENVILLE — The United States has an opportunity to move the world into a new industrial revolution. And that revolution must ensure the country’s future prosperity, the U.S. secretary of energy said Monday.

Speaking at a symposium hosted by the Clemson University Restoration Institute at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), energy secretary Steven Chu said the world is changing and America must be a leader in the new “green economy.”

The price of oil will continue to rise, Chu said, and we all will live in what he called a carbon-constrained world. To prepare for this shift, the United States is investing $80 billion in the near-term to help drive the green economy, including money for research and development of alternative energy sources.

As part of that initiative, the energy department awarded the Restoration Institute and its partners a $45 million grant Nov. 23 to build and operate a large-scale wind turbine drive train testing facility at the institute’s research campus on the former Navy base in North Charleston.

The award was matched by $53 million in funding from public and private partners and is the largest single grant ever received by the university.

The facility could spark an offshore wind industry in South Carolina, Chu said.

“To do that we need reliable wind turbines,” he said. “To achieve our energy goals we need to act now.”

The cost of inaction is that the United States will forfeit the opportunity to assume the leadership role in the new economy, Chu said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Restoration Institute invited the energy secretary for a one-day “Symposium on Energy: Building Intellectual Capital for a Green Economy.”

The country is at a crossroads, Graham said. The nation sends $1 billion a day overseas to oil-rich countries. The country is more dependent today on foreign oil than it was in the 1970s, he said.

“Change is coming,” Graham said. “A green economy is coming and I believe South Carolina should lead, not follow.”

Clemson University President James F. Barker opened the symposium by stating that the university and South Carolina are well-positioned to assume a leadership role in alternative energy research.

The university’s track record of fostering public-private partnerships — as demonstrated by the successful CU-ICAR model — places the Restoration Institute and the drive train testing facility at the forefront of a developing industry, Barker said.

“It will create new economic opportunities for states that act now,” he said.

The symposium was sponsored by South Carolina’s electric cooperatives, a group of 20 independent, not-for-profit, member-owned electric utilities that operate the largest electric power system in the state.

Presenters included Imtiaz Haque, executive director of the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR; Bobby Hitt, manager of media and public relations for BMW Manufacturing Co.; Jim Newsome, president and chief executive officer of the S.C. State Ports Authority; and Nick Rigas, director of the renewable energy focus area at the Restoration Institute.

John Kelly, executive director of the Restoration Institute and vice president of public service and agriculture at Clemson, said the symposium is part of an initiative by the institute to position South Carolina at the forefront of alternative energy research and development.

On Dec. 8, also at CU-ICAR, the Restoration Institute and GE Energy will host Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric, for a “Summit on Renewable Energy: South Carolina Job Opportunities in the Green Economy.”

The public can watch the Dec. 8 summit via the Internet at www.clemson.edu by clicking on the live video link.

“These meetings will help lay the groundwork for a potential renewable energy cluster, establish public policy and foster partnerships in South Carolina that could create thousands of jobs from the Upstate to the Lowcountry,” Kelly said.

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