WiserEarth Global Communities

For the first time in thirty years, a large majority of Americans want changes in energy policy, but crucially we do not agree on why we need change—whether because of global warming, energy prices, or security—and thus do not agree on the solutions.

Energy efficiency offers a fast, cost effective, and often profitable, way to reduce carbon emissions, energy spending, and dependence on foreign energy suppliers, but it's overlooked in the US, so much so that we need twice as much energy to create a dollar of GDP as developed economies in Asia and Europe.

While there has been much talk about building a green economy, so far most of the benefits have come in the form of tax credits for buyers of Priuses and solar panels and subsidies for alternative energy supplies such as ethanol. Energy efficiency offers a cheaper, fairer path towards a low carbon economy and the kind of innovation that will make the US more competitive. If we want to create a broad green constituency for the future, providing Americans with the tools to control their energy use will be key.

Speaker

<img src="http://www.newvoiceofbusiness.org/_data/global/images/Event%20Graphics/l-margonelli.gif" alt="Lisa Margonelli" hspace="10" width="130" height="164" align="left" />Lisa Margonelli directs the energy initiative at the New America Foundation. Her book about the oil supply chain, Oil On the Brain: Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to Your Tank, was published by Nan Talese/Doubleday in 2007. Recognized as one of the 25 Notable Books of 2007 by the American Library Association, Oil On the Brain also won a 2008 Northern California Book Award for general nonfiction.

Ms. Margonelli has been published in The Atlantic, New York Times online, The Nation, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, Discover, and California Monthly, among other publications. In 2008, her feature story about UC Berkeley's bet on green energy won an Excellence in Journalism Award from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, and an Eddie award from Folio magazine.