New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman likes to use
the U.S. space program as an analogy when he talks about
the engines that drive American innovation. Friedman sees
a revolution on the horizon that could galvanize the country
— tapping its ingenuity, determination and competitive
spirit — in a way nothing has since the race to put a man
on the moon.
Energy technology will be the next great industial revolution,
Friedman told the crowd of academic and business leaders
at the Eastern Michigan Convocation Center Sept. 17.
But, unless the government sets standards that make clean,
sustainable, reliable energy competitive with what is
already produced by fossil fuels, someone else will get
there first.
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START THE REVOLUTION: New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman said energy technology will be
the
next great industrial revolution during a lecture
he
gave to academic and business leaders at the
Convocation Center Sept. 17. The Pulitzer Prize
winner spoke at EMU as part of a luncheon event
sponsored by the Washtenaw Economic Club and the
Ann Arbor Business Review. |
Friedman, a firm believer in the market's ability to spur
inovation, compared trying to trigger an energy revolution
without the government's help to trying to fund the Apollo
space program in a market where Southwest Airlines already
flies to the moon.
"The country that leads (the energy revolution) is going
to enjoy the most economic security, the most national
security, the highest standard of living," said Friedman,
a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who's touring the country
promoting his latest book, "Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why
We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America." "If
we do not lead the ET revolution the way we led the IT
revolution, the chances of our kids enjoying the same standard
of living we do is zero."
Friedman spoke at EMU as part of a luncheon event sponsored
by the Washtenaw Economic Club and the Ann Arbor Business
Review. Before lunch, visitors could tour a mini-green
fair in the Convocation Center's atrium, with booths and
representatives from Michigan companies that make wind
turbines, photovoltaic panels and fuel cells.
"I thought it was a great event," said EMU President Susan
Martin, who was joined by the presidents of Michigan State,
the University of Michigan, Wayne State, Washtenaw Community
College and Cleary University. "It shows how the
universities in Southeastern Michigan can really come together
and engage in an important conversation about the role
of energy in our future."
Michigan, Friedman said, has an opportunity to take a
stand in the energy revolution by adopting an aggressive
renewable portfolio standard — calling for utility
companies to buy 30 percent of their power from
renewable sources by 2020, and 40 percent by 2030. The
Michigan Legislature has passed a bill that would require
10 percent of electric power come from renewable sources
by 2015. It's now awaiting Governor Granholm's signature.
Friedman
said power companies would scream and moan in response
to a 30- or 40-percent standard, but innovators — like
those with displays in the atrium — will suddenly
have ahuge domestic market. He also encouraged higher fuel
efficiency standards for automakers and outlined a list
of social, environmental and political problems that could
be solved with abundant, clean, cheap, reliable, renewable
energy.
"We love a challenge," Friedman said. "We love
to be challenged with the impossible. Lately, we've been
challenging ourselves with the ordinary."
Friedman compared the chants of "drill, baby, drill" at
the Republican National Convention to a crowd railing for
more carbon paper and IBM electric typewriters on the eve
of the IT revolution.
"We can get our groove back as a country," he said. "We
can solve our problems by taking the lead in solving the
world's problems — the problems that stem from
being hot, flat and crowded."
Hot, in the context of Friedman's book, refers to climate
change — the increased intensity of all kinds of weather
- from melting Arctic ice to more violent hurricanes. Flat
refers to a rising middle class in a world where more and
more people live — and consume — like Americans.
Crowded is about population growth — a world population
projected to be close to 9.5 billion by 2050, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Rattling off a list of book and article titles that ranged
from "205 Easy Ways to Save the Earth" to "10 Easy Steps
to Going Green" to "10 Ways to Green Your Sex Life," Friedman
warned that a movement where everybody wins is not a revolution.
It's a party.
"You will know it's a revolution when someone gets hurt," he
said. "In the IT revolution, it was simple. Change or die...There's
one word we must never use when describing this revolution,
and that's 'easy.'"
