Jeff Immelt (GE CEO) and Tom Friedman Help Governors Formulate Energy Policies

C-SPAN has video from the National Governors Association meeting held over the weekend.

The video, with Jeff Immelt and Tom Friedman addressing the governors, was very thought provoking. Both presentations were good, but Jeff Immelt's was less flamboyant and contained more practical action items for the governors.

The video catches many of the governors taking notes, so expect to see many of the ideas put into policy including: carbon tax/cap-and-trade, sequestration, coal gasification, nuclear energy.

It's unfortunate that research into fusion energy was not mentioned at all. Excerpts from the Department of Energy's recent Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Advisory Committee Meeting:

• Principal Conclusion: The expanding scope of plasma research is creating an abundance of new scientific opportunities and challenges. These opportunities promise to further expand the role
  of plasma science in enhancing economic security and prosperity, energy and environmental security, national security, and scientific knowledge.
  
• Principal Recommendation: To fully realize the opportunities in plasma research, a unified approach is required. Therefore, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science should reorient its research programs to incorporate magnetic and inertial fusion
  energy sciences; basic plasma science; non-mission-driven, high-energy-density plasma science; and low-temperature plasmascience and engineering.”
  
• FES is in a difficult and exciting period – US operates a number of fusion devices that have been extraordinarily productive and have advanced our knowledge of fusion. – ITER is the next step for magnetic fusion energy science – we cannot afford to cede our position in the world fusion program by surrendering our role in ITER

Update: AMERICA'S FUSION FUTURE