Greening the Generations: Be your own energy baron

Greg: Knock. Knock.

Billy: Who's there?

Greg: A federal stimulus.

Billy: Well, come right in, sir! You are more than welcome here!

Greg: That's not how the joke goes.

Billy: Yeah, but who is going to turn down stimulus money to get this economy going again?

Greg: There wasn't much joking this week at the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association's "Making Energy Work" conference at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Billy: And, for good reason. Now's the time to put our collective green heads together to come up with plans that will not only stimulate our economy but rev up alternative energy and ease up on global warming.

Greg: Some heavy hitters came out -- Speaker of the House Joe Hackney, Treasurer Janet Cowell, Jorge Dixon of ConEdison Solutions, Greg Montgomery of MCF Advisors out of Charlotte. I was particularly interested in the notion that consumers could have more flexibility to opt in to alternate energy. The powers-that-be – lawmakers, regulators, utilities – would have to get a bit more flexible and let individuals make their own decisions.

Billy: Not sure my household is ready to run a solar farm yet, but we can be our own energy barons via energy efficiency. Simple things like pigtail light bulbs, better refrigerators and weatherized homes could add up to dramatically – I mean, Kate Winslet-going-for-an-Oscar dramatically – to slash our consumption of oil, gas and electricity. It's the lowest of low hanging fruit ... and yet we're not quite lunging for it with everything we've got.

Greg: But the folks at NCSEA are trying, along with others. Did you know that the North Carolina General Assembly building composts its leftover food?

Billy: So, that is the aroma wafting down Wilmington Street!

Greg: With so many conferences focused on all of us and the measures we, as citizens, need to take to save our planet, it was definitely refreshing to know that we are not alone. Leaders in all levels of business and government are right there with us. Helping us become the community, state, country and planet that we know we need to be. Up next, we crash the Emerging Issues Forum. Stay tuned!