Usually when people think of Paris in April it is because that city is turning green with spring growth. Well, I was just in Paris and it was both about green and growth, but in a completely different way. No, this was an unprecedented gathering hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to France, my friend Charles Rifkin, to accelerate the implementation of energy efficiency technology and sustainability practices in U.S. Embassies.
This two day event brought together business leaders, representatives from Washington D.C., senior management from over 20 U.S. Embassies and 9 U.S. Ambassadors. There were some serious power lunches there to help lay out a series of next steps – implementations with real metrics.
(l to R) United States Ambassadors Speckhard, Solomont, King, Rifkin, Oreck, Stroum, Beyer, Eacho and Barzun
As many of you may know, last October, President Obama issued an Executive Order mandating that the Federal government (the largest consumer of energy in the U.S.) quickly put into effect dramatic and measurable increases in energy efficiency. (For the text of that executive order, please click on this link: Presidential EO ) And just a few weeks ago President Obama also created a new National Export Initiative for U.S. companies. This kind of leadership has created a perfect opportunity to really charge ahead with the building blocks of the next economic and industrial revolution – what I have long called “Blue Energy”.
What is Blue Energy? It is the term that I use to describe the full constellation of business opportunities that will underlie the global move to a far less energy intensive, far less hydrocarbon dependant and far more sustainable global future. From smart grids to smart light bulbs, from bio-energy to batteries and everything else under the sun (pun intended), the economics and businesses of the last century will give way to the businesses of the 21st century. As one of the business participants at this energy conference stated, “A business that fails to embrace energy efficiency and green business practices today will find itself in the same circumstances as a business that failed to embrace the internet in 1995.”
Much of the hard work that was invested in putting this conference together was led by the U.S. Commercial Service, which is the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. Alright, that is a mouthful, but here is what counts: the leadership of the International Trade Administration is working incredibly long and hard hours to advance the agenda of new energy and energy efficiency. From Francisco Sanchez (the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce) with whom I met at length back in Washington this past March, to Suresh Kumar (the Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion and Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce) with whom I spent a great deal of time at the Paris conference, I can assure you that these are business people with a bold vision of a Blue Energy future.
There is something else you need to be aware of. Despite the prior administration’s lack of focus on new energy technologies, American entrepreneurs and many of America’s corporate giants have been actively toiling away on new energy opportunities. Today, America has many of the world’s very best energy research projects and laboratories from which have come some of the best products and technologies in the fields of energy efficiency and alternative energy.
So how does this all relate back to Finland? Well, it is valuable to know that many American businesses have already partnered with Finnish firms to create new products and business opportunities and several new cooperative ventures are under negotiation.
As far as this all relates to Embassy Helsinki, I hope soon to announce a major undertaking at our Embassy that could be a pilot for similar projects around Europe and beyond.
