It was informative at the ACORE Phase II meeting to listen to what works elsewhere and the lessons that the U.S can learn. The underlying theme was - stop looking for who to blame in politics about the lack of renewable energy, and promote the reasons to do it -- jobs, making more money, and less money flowing outside the country to oil baron nations.

Here's a rundown of what was said, along with some memorable quotes.

The star of the show was clearly Andy Karsner, Andy Karsner, Assistant Secretary of Energy, DOE. I've seen very few standing ovations in my years of going to conference, but this bureaucrat was passionate, charismatic, and he challenged the audience to stop talking and start doing more about clean energy.

He criticized the "sleeping geniuses in Detroit" who have successfully lobbied to keep cars performing like it's 1979 and asked the Congress to do more. His boss (W) should also take some heat because he hasn't done anything to move the auto industry forward. Karsner said that while he doesn't play favorites in his role at DOE, he believes that concentrating solar power (CSP) has become and underutlized technology, so maybe we'll see more DOE funding headed towards solar tech. He was one of many folks who agreed that corn-based ethanol is a temporary solution that should lose its incentives as soon as something better (like cellulosic ethnanol) comes along.

Best quote: "Don't let (Congress) off the hook until they say what they are going to do about tranmission." This refers to the problems of distributing electricity which has not been addressed by regulators, Congress or the grid. If the transmission lines aren't fixed and the grid isn't made smart, then renewables such as wind and solar will never be widespread.

Vijay Vaithesswaran, Journalist, The Economist, is fiscally conservative and big on capitalism, but he gets that screwing the environment is a bad long term strategy. Best quote: "The energy industry is the least innovate on Earth."

He said the energy industry invests less than one-half of 1 percent on research and development, which is no way to grow an industry. He also thinks the market has to fund getting electricity to the world's poor to prevent the spread of the "energy poverty problem" that sees 1.6 billion people today withpout electricity.

David Sandalow, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute talked about the risks of oil insecurity, noting that while the U.S. hasn't purchased oil from Iran in nearly 25 years, the country can still play the "oil card" by threatening to withhold petroleum and screw up the global market.

Best quote: Innovation in the oil industry is slow because "The fundamental issue is a lack of substitutes in cars and tracks."

If you don't want to drink water you can choose juice or soda, but if you don't want a car to drive on petroleum, you can... well, bicycle. Sandalow said relying on oil for 96 percent of our vehicle transportation is a glaring security weakness.

Michael Liebreich, Chairman and CEO of New Energy Finance says that most of the carbon funds (75 percent) are managed in London, U.S. firms stand to benefit big time if a carbon market is established in New York.

Best quote: "It's not alternative energy, it's just what energy will look like in the future."

Amen.

John Cavalier, a Vice Chairman at Credit Suisse, shamed the government for it's ethanol tariff policy.

Best quote: "the tax on sugar ethanol has hurt corn ethanol."

We are highly taxing sugar cane ethanol from Brazil which is keeping the fuel out of the market here and putting more stress on prices and corn as a food for people and animals. But instead of protecting U.S. farmers, it is hurting the ethanol industry, he argued. The tariff has slowed the growth in ethanol because the limited supply has reduced the need to build out the delivery infrastructure that could lower the price of ethanol.

Pat Wood, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission described himself as a "conservative right winger" who is tired of the government paying for the oil and gas industries profits.

Best quote "Infant (industry) subsidies are okay, but the baby has grown up and is still living at home." Subsidies for fledling industries are okay, but giving ExxonMobil et al billions in tax deductions and grants is ridiculous. We are conservatives on this issue, Pat.

Oliver Schaefer, the Policy Director, European Renewable Energy Council was one of several speakers who talked about how feed-in tariffs, which pay people for producing solar energy, is the best way to diversify the energy sources. He said it has been "totally free to destroy the environment" with fossil fuels, but the EU has changed that, and so should the U.S.

He took took Antonio Pflüger, Director, Energy Technology, International Energy Agency, to task for a few of his slides. While he was happy that the IEA is finally talking out loud about renewable energy, he complained about slides that showed nuclear energy producing 3 times as much hydro power in the distant future. He also questioned the agency's conservative projections for oil and electricity prices. Keeping those figures well below what they should be based on increased demand makes renewable energy look like a bad investment.

Another innovation I hadn't heard of before: agro pellets. These biomass pellets are being used in Europe and can be burned alongside of coal to increase the energy yield without adding to the pollution.