"Waiting for the Sun..."

Not sure what that Doors' song was all about (or what almost anything Morrison wrote was all about), but this lyric caught my attention: "Now that Spring has come/That it's time to live in the scattered sun."

Keep in mind, I was coming out of a Senate Environment hearing on solar energy at the time.

Anyway, the "main event" today was Interior Secretary Ken Salazar back among his former Senate peers and touting the potential for solar energy. Some of the numbers the Colorado native tossed out today?

• DOI has received 128 applications for solar development on public lands that would be worth 77,000 MW of electricity capacity.
• DOI has deemed 23-million acres of public land to be "highly suitable" for solar development.
• DOI is "fast-tracking" 13 commercial-scale projects with 4,500 MW capacity, and all should be approved and moving by the end of this year.

Raining on solar's parade (which naturally brings to mind "The Soft Parade"...different Doors album, though), Senator Kit Bond. The Missouri Republican produced chart after chart detailing what he said were US solar companies taking Stimulus funding and investing in foreign production/manufacturing.

Here's my wrap of Secretary Salazar's appearance today. We had a lot going on today, so please be patient until the story hits.

You know, "Waiting for the...Fun". (that was awful, sorry)

The Smartest Guy(s) In the Room

I know that line has been appropriated for the Enron book and now has something of a sarcastic undertone. But I'm convinced that when Dr. Steven Chu walks in the room, he instantly holds the title of Smartest Guy In the Room.

In the room. In the Building. Heck, maybe even the entire city of Washington. The Secretary of Energy really is that bright. And his 1997 Nobel Prize is a pretty strong case in point.

This is a snapshot I took during the Secretary's recent appearance before the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. I thought it was interesting that, from this angle, Dr. Chu doesn't really stand out.

Yeah, everyone at the hearing either wanted to listen to every word he said (journalists) or have him listen to every word they said (senators). But here? Looks like just another guy in a suit and tie.

I did ask the Secretary a few questions following his testimony. One of them was about the extent of federal regulation he foresees as necessary to change US behavior (both commercial and consumer) and move us further toward a clean energy economy. But what I really took note of was his approach to answering my question. He became something of a professor, using analogies to help me/The Media understand his point.

And maybe that's why Steven Chu is such a strong candidate for Smartest Guy In the Room (or any room for that matter). He doesn't necessarily want you to understand how smart he is. Rather, he merely wants you to understand. Period.

Fric-Frack-Foe?

I'm not so sure you want these people looking at you. Not all at the same time, at least.

You see, everyone you see here sitting in a plush leather chair and facing right to left here is a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. And if they're looking at you, you're probably a witness called to testify before a committee hearing. Not sure you wanna be front and center in this room.

On this particular day, these House members gathered ostensibly for a hearing about the proposed ExxonMobil acquisition of XTO Energy. The chairmen of both companies were there, the only witnesses called to testify, in fact. But instead of discussing the business implications of the mega-marriage, committee members apparently wanted to talk only about the value of natural gas.

Yes, unilateral subcommittee agreement on a single issue. What're the odds?

Actually, the odds on natural gas aren't long at all. It generates electricity with far fewer carbon emissions than coal, a far lower cost than nuclear, and far better baseload results than wind or solar. Oh, and the U.S. also has a titanic supply in its shale gas formations. As most committee members seemed to say, What's not to like?

Well, the way we get that natural gas out of shale rock does have some critics. Hydrofracking is the subject of the House and Senate FRAC Acts, neither of which is expected to get a vote. But at this E&C hearing, even one of the co-sponsors seemed to be applauding the practice.

Or you could take the word of Steve. Actually it's Steven, as in Steven Chu. As in Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Steven Chu. He's down.

Reyjkavik, Rock City!

No, not quite as catchy as the title the members of KISS gave to Detroit. But Iceland's capital is making a case for itself as "Rock City."

This is the view from above Reykjavik, looking out across the sound and upon some of the country's glaciers (they cover more than 10% of Iceland's surface). This island was/is/will always be a volcanic island. Rock, essentially. And the make-up of Iceland's topography and geology could hold the essential ingredients for storing carbon emissions.

The final installment of my series on Iceland's clean energy profile involves The CarbFix Project. While other efforts to sequester carbon focus on storing CO2 underground, usually in rock formations, CarbFix has a novel approach. The scientists I spoke with in Reykjavik say they have a method to convert carbon emissions into rock.

Yeah, the stuff you exhale? Imagine that turning into rock! Solid rock, matter that will not leak CO2, stable for thousands of years.

This afternoon on The Energy Report we're airing my story on CarbFix, and you can catch it on Clean Skies Sunday this weekend as well. Of course the easiest way to see the piece, and find extensive interviews with the sharp minds now driving the project, is by word-searching on our site CleanSkies.com.

Since this is the final element of the Iceland series, and since I don't want to leave you with a KISS song stuck in your head, here's something from the country's most famous musical (and most infamous sartorial) export.

Takk fyrir.