The following is a paraphrase of the remarks made by former Virginia Governor Mark Warner at his April 13, 2007 talk at Virginia Tech.

Speaking of energy and global warming, Gov. Warner said, “I come late to this issue. As governor, I should have done more. But I now have all the passion of the newly converted.”

He described the topic of energy as “a moral issue; a security issue; a jobs issue,” and said that in his travels across the United States, the topic of energy receives more response than even Iraq does. He said energy isn’t just an environmental issue, it is a patriotism issue, and that there is an opportunity for Virginia and the U.S. to take leadership roles.

He said we need to grapple with energy as citizens, with our votes; as consumers; as shareholders; and as students and staff at the university. H said we are going to have to take a “portfolio approach” – conservation, nuclear, a host of new ideas. “This is something we can act on and solve,” he said, adding that it is going to take all of us, making daily decisions, to achieve those solutions.

Speaking critically of current policies, the Governor noted that the U.S. is the biggest contributor to global warming. He said our failure to act gives rising economies reason to step back from their own responsibilities. He also said the U.S. continues to buy oil “from people who don’t like us,” and stated that in sending $250 billion a year to countries that want to destabilize America, we are funding both sides of the war on terror.

On the positive side, Warner talked about Virginia’s abundant energy sources, such as coal, timber and wood for biomass, nuclear power, and 250 miles of coastal area (for wind or wave turbines). He also mentioned biofuels as a potential source of jobs, as well as energy, in the rural communities of Virginia.

The Governor noted that last year there was a $60 billion investment in alternative energy. He said that development of alternative energy technologies could have the same economic effect over the next 20 years as information technologies had over the last 20 years. He said we need to link information technology and energy, such as for smart metering, and noted that we are not fully realizing the potential for solar energy.

We need a new approach to research, Warner said. Total Federal research and development spending on energy in 2006 was less than $2 billion – versus $8 billion a month in Iraq. He also said, in response to an audience member’s question, that we need not only policy change, but behavior change. We need to work with the corporate community, he said, noting that we don’t have the luxury of a long period of time to get changes made. “We need to find ways to make it easy for Americans to take action, to push policy. We need to look at is an opportunity, not as taking medicine,” he said.

[Energy and global warming] is not a problem we can solve tomorrow, he said. “But it is one we can begin to solve and we can win.”