The second is Carbon Nation, a “positive, solutions-based, non-preachy, non-partisan, big tent film about tackling climate change while boosting the economy.” That’s our kind of movie. The Castens appear in the film to lend their expertise about energy recycling.

Momentum is building for recycled energy. I believe it was Martin Luther King Jr. who said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward efficient use of energy at industrial facilities.” Or something to that effect.

A slew of organizations have signed a letter urging Congress to pass bills that would promote energy recycling at industrial facilities. These organizations range from environmentalists to manufacturers to unions to contractors.

What’s this eclectic bunch pushing for? We want investment tax credits to encourage combined heat and power (CHP) and waste energy recovery, probably the best ways to slash greenhouse gas emissions and power costs simultaneously. The specific bills include:

• S. 1639, sponsored by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
• H.R. 4144, sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA)
• H.R. 4751, sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY)
• H.R. 4455 sponsored by Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and John Linder (R-GA)

These bills would encourage near-term, shovel-ready projects that will create and maintain thousands of jobs. Moreover, as I pointed out in a recent E&E TV interview, energy costs would fall through increased efficiency. Not bad.

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin just signed legislation designating recycled energy a renewable source of power within the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). That’s a big deal: it means utilities—which already have to buy a portion of their power from alternative and renewable sources—are now more likely to buy recycled energy from West Virginia manufacturers. The result will be a stronger manufacturing sector, more jobs, and a cleaner environment.

So what’s the takeaway here? It’s this: clean energy is clean energy, and it should be rewarded no matter what form it takes. Wind is clean. Solar is clean. Recycled energy is clean. All of it matters. We can’t be narrow-minded about what pathways to a clean energy economy we’re willing to pursue. If something works, we need to reward it.

West Virginia gets that. Which state is next?

The talk was put together by an excellent organization called the COMPETE Coalition, and my fellow panelists included representatives from FERC, NDN, and the Galvin Electricity Initiative. The consensus: to truly unleash innovation, government needs to set goals for clean energy and energy efficiency and let markets meet the challenge.

Reality-based thinking may seem novel these days, but it was in abundance at this summit. Our own Tom Casten joined a panel on alternative energies moderated by TIME’s Bryan Walsh. Although Tom’s beat is combined heat and power, improving our world’s energy predicament will require creative solutions from all quarters. It needs them urgently.

American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) launched four months ago with a simple goal: to demonstrate the vast amount of business support that exists for climate change legislation. Already, about 2500 businesses in 41 states have signed onto the initiative.

The lesson is that being pro-planet can also be pro-profit. We can’t have sustainable businesses in an unsustainable world. Even better, we can ensure that slashing greenhouse gas emissions reduces energy costs rather than increasing them. All we need is the creativity and political will to undertake real reform.

With the business community starting to holler, the chances for such reform just got better.

• “Output standards” for emissions, so that regulators look at how much pollution is released per unit of energy generated, rather than the current rule of basing it on how much fuel is used. This change would encourage efficiency rather than penalizing it.
• A “clean energy standard offer” for federal electricity purchases, so the government gives preferential treatment to clean, efficient energy options.
• A “regulatory modernization committee” to transform our energy system from a Hummer into a hybrid.

Check out more of my ideas for promoting energy efficiency through CHP and waste energy recovery.

The event is entitled Gray Is the New Green: How Energy Recycling Curbs Both Global Warming and Power Costs. It will take place February 21 at 8:30am in San Diego.

The panelists include several renowned energy experts:

• Tom, who will discuss the economics of clean energy by comparing the costs of 14 clean energy options such as wind, solar, nuclear, and cogeneration. Casten will argue that improving “generation efficiency” has the greatest potential to benefit the economy while reducing greenhouse gas pollution.
• Lester Lave, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and co-director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center. He will report on the work of a committee on energy efficiency that he recently chaired for the National Academy of Sciences. Among other things, Lave will report that the U.S. could bring total energy use back to mid-1980s levels simply through energy efficiency.
• Marilyn Brown, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and former leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She will discuss the many policy barriers to energy efficiency and present policy suggestions to help overcome these barriers. Her recommendations will be based on her own research and emphasize the imperative of serving current economic needs without blocking efficiency investments.
• Lawrence Ambs, professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and co-director of the Northeast Regional Combined Heat & Power Application Center. He will serve as the symposium’s discussant, or moderator.

Those who are familiar with RED’s work know the basic contours of Tom’s argument, which is this. The U.S. energy system is grossly inefficient. The typical power plant throws away two-thirds of its energy, largely in the form of waste heat, when producing electricity. This abysmal rate, while tragic, presents an opportunity: increasing the efficiency of our energy system would help enable us to stave off the catastrophic effects of climate change while increasing national income and improving the quality of life.

Tom has never before presented to the AAAS, so this is an exciting opportunity.

Here at RED, we like to come up with good policy proposals that would allow the nation to mitigate climate change while slashing energy costs. But politics can throw a monkey wrench into the most finely reasoned policy argument. Read Sean’s take on the policy fixes needed to unleash clean energy.