I recently attended the Governor’s Conference on Energy in Richmond. Two of the plenary speakers — Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers and David Crane, CEO of NRG Corp. (a large independent electricity provider) — gave some poignant insight into the future of energy and jobs in America. Insight that has direct relevance to Albemarle County’s upcoming election.
Jim Rogers said that the job growth in the energy sector will be in new technologies for new energy production and it will not come from the same sources we’ve relied on in the past. China is already No. 1 in all of the new technologies, but he is confident we can lead again.
David Crane repeatedly said, “The future of energy is in distributed solar”; that is where the jobs will be and that is where the innovation and economics are leading. This is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company that operates nuclear power stations, coal stations, natural gas turbines and more. He’s not an environmentalist.
He said it won’t happen in America without government leadership from the political center.
I pondered that on my way home. I recalled this summer’s now infamous Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting where Ken Boyd stated that we were all under imminent threat of a United Nations takeover of local government and we better get rid of anything that mentions the word “sustainability” or “energy efficiency” or “climate change,” and sever relations with anyone who promotes such.
Then I thought of the local entrepreneurs and companies developing electric car charging stations, new wind farms, new solar technologies and more efficient building technologies to employ more people and create the new, sustainable, efficient, energy future right here.
It’s crystal clear that Cynthia Neff’s practical business experience and forward thinking will bring more companies and more jobs to Albemarle County. Leadership is not about pandering to paranoia, it’s about building a strong and sustainable economy for the future.
Vote for Cynthia Neff.
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