Good op-ed by David MacKay, Cambridge University

President Obama's administration certainly sees the energy future of the US different than the last administration. Overall, this is very good news. A few years ago, when I first starting looking seriously at the US energy policies and proposals, I was not very confident about our chances to create a sustainable energy future. I'm much more optimistic now. Of course, this is a day to be optimistic and a day to believe in what we can accomplish if we just put our talents to it. At the same time, it's also the day to start looking more carefully at the proposals. There's much work to be done and the devil is, as always, in the details.

Global warming is happening, and one of the culprits is likely increased emission levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a result of our energy usage. Lynn Orr is director of the Global Climate and Energy Project and one of the world’s leading experts on global warming and CO2 emissions. He says we need to take urgent action now to reduce the risk of a global catastrophe, by increasing energy efficiency, investing in energy resources such as wind and solar with low emissions, and researching potential carbon dioxide sequestration processes.

This talk was part of the “End of Oil” debate, at Stanford University in March 2006.