Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Can you pick the state energy secretary out of a crowd?

By John Sutter

Well, now you can. In this video interview, I ask Oklahoma Energy Secretary David Fleischaker about wind power, renewable portfolio standards, the nation's power grid and more. Filmed between sessions at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Conference. Here's his Wikipedia entry if you want more background.

2 comments:

Shauna Lawyer Struby said...

Thanks for the coverage. I was disappointed Fleischaker didn't mention concentrating solar thermal for possible utility scale deployment. California utilties currently have three such projects underway and other states aren't far behind, yet Oklahoma with it's abundant sunshine has zero on the horizon. Why is it Oklahoma lags in the kind of innovation that maximizes non-polluting, renewable energy with the greatest energy net input payoff? With the exception of wind (which OG&E reluctantly embraced), we seem determined to plow ahead with liquid or dirtiers fuel (such as coal) that doesn't maximize the energy required to produce them. I know this is oversimplying a bit, but hopefully you catch my drift.

John said...

You're welcome.
Yeah, wind is the big talk here for sure. I thought it was interesting how the wind conference focused a lot on the drawbacks: unanswered questions from landowners, wildlife issues ... none of the alternatives seem to be a silver bullet.