Power

The Speech

At 6;57 in the evening an inconspicuous midnight black Range Rover rolled down one of the most well-known roads in the world. An equally famous passenger sat in the back of the comfortable SUV reading the last page of an energy report written by a brilliant Russian-Canadian researcher, Peter Maslov who was going to be talking tonight at an energy conference to discuss his new insights.

Ten minutes later the SUV came to a halt outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His diver/bodyguard rolled down the electric windows to produce the proper identification and check the name of his guest on the White House guest list. A young officer in his early twenties checked them in, meticulously walking around the vehicle checking for anything out of the ordinary. Finally, he knocked on the passenger window and was greeted by Robin Wright, an enigmatic tech billionaire that had made his fortune in the '90s with computer software. "Good evening Mr.Wright welcome to the White House, please make your way down the driveway to the conference room."

   Robin was always either on time or early he had it drilled into him from an early age, "early was on time, on time was late and late was unacceptable." Thanks Jeff it seems our other guests have not yet arrived, I'll just wait here you're welcome to join us or wait in the car whatever seems good to you.however just as he said this the White House media crew started setting up. Good evening, Mr. Wright, I'm such a big fan it is an honor to have you chairing this. Could I ask a quick question for my piece? Is it true the Wright foundation will be funding any projects that Mr. Maslow will discuss tonight? Well, Laila, we are excited to see what he has to say Peter is being unusually secretive about his speech tonight. This current administration doesn't always see eye to eye with him regarding climate change. This, however, is a very crucial issue with both Melanie and myself, and we will be looking for solutions at tonight's convention.

The atmosphere in the room was palpable, a buzz rang in the air while the cameras flashed and reporters could be heard making introductory reports to their cameramen. Looking around the guest list was jaw-dropping, Robin was surprised to see some faces that were previously unavailable from a prominent hip-hop star and his equally famous wife to members of the British Royal Family.

 All of this was possible with the support of his wife Melanie and the press she had done leading up to this event. Many people had the misconception that he alone was the voice behind the Wright foundation but in fact, Melanie was an equal partner and often brought up her ideas concerning the direction of the foundation. It was her who had found a previous article by Peter Maslov in the New York Times about energy in developing countries. Unlike developed nations with tons of resources and innovation smaller poorer areas depended on antiquated Soviet or Chinese systems that constantly broke down and gave off lethal by-products not only to the people of that area but the rest of the world by damaging the ozone layer.

Nearly an hour after Robin had arrived, the conference was about to begin most of the guests were at their tables bristling with anticipation. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Peter anxiously pacing backstage reading and re-reading his cue cards. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my greatest pleasure to introduce tonight's keynote speaker, Peter Maslov,  some of you may know him from his many Pulitizer award-winning articles on various climate change and energy topics. I can not wait anymore so without further ado, please give a warm round of applause to Peter.

The past 300 years have seen the most miraculous advances in the human condition—and just about all of those advances can be traced directly to the exploitation of new forms of energy. The biggest transition in the human condition started in the mid-18th century, after ironmasters in Europe began firing their furnaces with metallurgical coke, and drove an increase in global production from 800,000 tons in 1750 to 30 million tons in 1900. A series of additional metallurgical innovations in the late 1800s led to the modern steel industry, Ever since coal and fossil fuels the world has not been the same.

When American leaders talk about energy transitions, they tend to sell them as something that can be accomplished in a matter of years. Al Gore, perhaps the country's most prominent climate activist, proposed to "re-power" America, making its electricity carbon-free, within 10 years, calling the goal "achievable, affordable and transformative." That was in 2008, when fossil fuels produced 71 percent of American electricity; last year 67 percent still came from burning fossil fuels. The number of components on a microchip doubles every 18 months. This has allowed exceptionally rapid progress. Progress of energy systems do not behave that way: they are improving steadily, but far more slowly.

If we carry on our current path using energy as we have done for the last century the effect on our environment will be irreversible. There needs to be a solution where energy is used more efficiently until such a point where we can reduce our energy needs.

At that point, the entire room was on their feet clapping loudly and discussing the speech among themselves that they did not notice Peter slip quietly away of the stage.