Columnist Brooks Projects Energy Innovation Soon to Soar

New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks wrote that the U.S. was "studded with venture capitalists, scientists, corporate executives and environmental activists atremble over the great opportunities they see ahead" resulting from energy and climate legislation. "The energy revolution is a material project that arouses moral fervor--exactly the sort of enterprise at which Americans excel."

Brooks wrote that it was time for the U.S to "invest more and differently" in developing "energy sources that are plentiful, clean and don't enrich the worst people on earth. That means in the short term, the U.S. has to unleash the tens of billions of dollars of potential energy investments now being pent up by uncertainty and regulatory hurdles." Brooks called the American Power Act, drafted by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the "best vehicle" to unleash entrepreneurial and scientific wizardry.

Brooks wrote that he got an e-mail from FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay saying "if he can get that certainty on the carbon price and if there can be a renewable energy standard to create a market for carbon-free energy, his company could boost investments right away." Hay was quoted as writing: "Regarding wind energy investment at our NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary, we think we might invest about $1.5 billion to $2 billion more per year. Regarding solar, we think NextEra Energy Resources might invest $500 million or more per year outside of Florida and that our Florida Power & Light subsidiary might invest about $1 billion a year inside Florida." Hay said a new climate law would be a "huge factor" in the company's decisions about building nuclear power plants.

Brooks wrote that NRG Energy CEO David Crane "wrote that with a new law, his company could double the number of clean energy projects, from 17 to 36; it could triple the megawatts of clean generating capacity it is planning to add; it could produce three times as much nuclear power and 40 times as much coal with carbon capture and sequestration."