EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 - (Page 25)

The ceO Leadership in Times of Turmoil THE CLIM ATE CH A NGE PA R A DOX BY JOHN W. ROW E Sending electronic payments isn’t just something we do Some would say we’re experts at it. Climate change and our unquenchable demand for energy are two real challenges facing our industry. With economies booming in some of the world’s most populated areas, our global thirst for electricity grows stronger by the day, and our climate continues to warm. So the paradox: We will require more energy in the future, not less, while our planet’s health will require less carbon in the air, not more. We know intuitively that the solution to this challenge is innovation and efficiency, producing energy more cleanly and using energy more wisely. Innovation and efficiency require a strong capital-led marketplace and a stable regulatory environment to thrive. The solution to ensuring our future energy supply and protecting our climate exists in the nexus between the marketplace and regulation and in the framework of national climate change legislation. As is true with every great societal challenge, governments, markets and the publics will need to do their part, accept their role and meet their responsibilities. The solution will require smart, honest leadership from regulators, policy makers and elected officials. It will require fair and well-functioning markets to spur the investment and innovation to serve both our environmental and energy objectives. It will require a public that starts taking meaningful steps to use less energy and accept the true costs of energy. Step one for a public that claims to be concerned with climate change: Allow politicians the breathing space to make smarter choices about utility rates. I see five rather simple imperatives as key to the solution. They are actionable and doable but require courage, foresight and a bit of jumping into the unknown. From telegraph to the Internet, payment innovation has always been our focus. We have 6000 biller relationships across various industries and handled over 249 million consumer-to-business transactions in 2006. Discover what experience can do for your business. carbon regulation first and foremost, we need mandatory economy-wide carbon regulation, and we need it soon. If we do it well, carbon regulation can serve as an incentive to the next great global industry – low carbon energy production and efficiency. If we do it poorly, carbon regulation can impose an impossible burden on our economy and seriously undermine our global competitiveness. We need a mandatory, economywide cap and trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, with a safety valve to provide economic certainty. Companies Contact a payments expert today. ©2006-2007 Western Union Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. WU_EnergyBiz_3.5x9.75 _10.19.07.1 1 www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 10/19/07 10:04:24 AM 25 http://westernunion.com/billpayments http://westernunion.com/billpayments http://www.energycentral.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 Contents Continental Grid Vision Needed Readers’ Views and Opinions Next for National Grid Clearing the Air The Need for Nuclear Energy Trade Status Report The Innovators California On The Leading Edge FERC Sparks Change Getting Coal Right Leadership in Times of Turmoil Innovation Delivers Return A Tale of Two IPOs LNGs Bright Prospects Generation Techologies The Age of Superconductors Leaders with Vision Get Ready for Plug-in Hybrids Betting on Batteries Cost of Decarbonizing Nuclear Helmsman – A chat with Dale Klein, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Global Energy Snapshot; Low-Income Energy Help; IT Spending Robust; The Greening of State Regulators; Generating Support Simplifying Offshore Wind Regs Chasing Construction Costs Energy Agency Sets New Course Deregulation Means Higher Rates Go-To Staffer Nightmare in Manhatten

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

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