We had a fascinating conference call with members of The Energy Collective Google group yesterday.

The central topic was Super Tuesday and its implications for energy policy. One of the participants was Jeff Anderson, who until recently was an advisor on energy and environmental issues to Democrat John Edwards. We were intrigued to learn that Jeff and the rest of Edwards' energy advisors are moving to assist the campaign of Barack Obama.

Just yesterday I reported that there was little to differentiate the energy policies of Clinton and Obama. One conference call participant took exception to that view, noting that Obama included "clean" coal--including coal to liquids--as a plank in his energy platform. Readers of this site know all about the cost and technology barriers to making coal a clean energy source.

Anderson calls Obama's past limited support for coal a "misstep" attributable more to the pressures of cooking up detailed policies from scratch in the heat of a Presidential campaign than any thought-out commitment to coal or the coal industry. He believes Obama is already revisiting his support for coal, and anticipates the candidate will revise his policy over the months ahead.

Another interesting question that arose: Joe Romm lamented the fact that, with respect to climate, the rest of the world has already acknowledged that "the sky is falling," while the U.S. twiddles its thumbs. I asked what the call participants felt were the major factors that generated such political will in places like Europe and enabled them to translate that will into policy. Our group quickly came up with five main points:

  • Europeans are used to high energy prices already
  • In their parliamentary systems, politicians need the Greens to be able to govern
  • Voters have a greater overall respect for science than in the U.S.
  • Voters are more accepting of government and regulation
  • European populations have not been subject to what one call participant called the "active disinformation campaign" that has muddied the waters in this country

I think all those perspectives are spot on. And while I doubt we'll be switching to a parliamentary system any time soon (though I would love to see George Bush compelled to defend his policies in the gladiatorial environment of a U.S. House of Commons), I believe we are already beginning to change the American culture and outlook on the other four fronts.