Charlie Rose Science Series
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The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
by Jane Mayer
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by Jane Mayer
Buy it
11/28/2006
Amory Lovins
A conversation about energy with Amory Lovins, Founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute
A conversation with environmentalist Amory Lovins, founder and CEO of The Rocky Mountain Institute. For 30 years, Lovins has been at the forefront of research about sustainable forms of energy and he discusses his experiences serving as an advisor to Wal-Mart and the Pentagon.
DVD
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Audio
Audio available through Audible.com.
Audio available through Audible.com.
Transcripts
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Transcripts available through Voxant.
This is a great interview! Well done. Mr. Rose asked Dr. Lovins what he'd like to hear in the U.S. President's inaugural speech. A few months ago, I wrote "The President's Speech I'd Like to Hear." This might suffice: http://www.energy2025.com/PresidentialSpeech.pdf.
Mr. Rose et al, Can you please forward your show with Amory Lovins on to Mr. Obama and McCain, encouraging them to sit down and look at the interview. This might spur them on to form an intelligent energy policy rather than the knee-jerk sound bites we are getting from the campaign.
One of the reasons GM is on the skids is because we don't want a TRACKING DEVICE ("onstar") in our cars. Screw GM.
BTW: I (200 lbs) just climbed 3,000 ft. of stairs in one hour. I believe that is equal to 227 watts, or 0.227 KwH's. I was sweating, but I was also dreaming of doing this work on an exercise bike with an attached AC generator, and selling the electricity produced back to my utility company. But at the CA rate of only 11.5 cents per KwH, it turns out I generated less than 3 cents of electricity for my hour's work! I guess I'll keep my day job. But now I wonder: Is electricity's price undervalued? ..Or should I recheck my math?
The best interview yet I've seen on his show. If the USA wants to dig itself out of the current crisis mode, he will be our new president's Secretary of Energy. His practical genius at the national policy helm will bring changes necessary for the future of my grandchildren and future generations.
Here at your website to express appreciation. Your timely and refreshing interview with Lovins helps clear the air of all the daily pockycock spin about our energy and global warming challenges and solutions for it. I would love to hear him dialogue with a panel of other intelligent individuals who are not tied to a certain industry or ideology. Please invite him back soon Charlie. Also thought your interview with the other two folks on U.S. economics was fascinating and helpful, especially due to the direct questions and candid responses. Thanks.
A PERFECT TRYPTYCH: A tale of a horse, a hog and a piece of candy I apprecited the Morgenson/Sloan/Lovins tryptych on Charlie Rose----a true icon representative of America's current economic religion! As Morgenson said: the horse is out of the barn! "A Horse! A Horse! my kingdom for a horse!" - Shakespeare I couldn't agree with her more. Here's why: Taking care of a horse begins with the housing of the horse. Stable needs are many but the basic stable should be a comfortable one for the horse and a convenient one for the horse owner. A horse lover will certainly look for the proper environment to house his horses. Horse stalls should be properly designed to house horses and the activities associated with hores management. A spacious one is welcome but one that is spacious may not turn out be a convenient one, unless it has the proper stable equipment. A modern horse stable is built with an eye to hold all necessary horse supplies and hardware in a convenient manner. ________________________ on the IndyMac crisis: IndyMac crisis consumes 1/4 of the federal reserve--startling! Who will the other 3/4s go to ? I don't think I'll stick around to find out. I'm off to India for an internet company, a chunk of south asian realestate and an Indie Mac, fries and coca cola on the steps of the Taj. I'm going to outsource myself. Now's as good a time as any. At least when I get calls from creditors--there--I accent Virginian or Indie South Carolinian accent on the phone--from here: aka: the creditors are calling! the creditors are calling! On digging for oil: I echo and channel Lovins petrodollars for dictatorships schpeel: risk vs. cost issues. Stay out of the cold (Arctic). And lay off the idea of laying down more Alaskan pipeline. One of my favorite Lovins quotes comes from the "Energy Bulletin, July 16"--- "When it comes to energy policy, Amory Lovins has proven again and again that he's a pretty smart guy. At the moment, nothing seems more insightful than one of Amory's comments in the May/June issue of Mother Jones. Asked what energy policies the next president should champion, Lovins was skeptical. He believes energy policy will continue to be made not at the national level, but by communities and states. "With modest exceptions," Amory said, "our federal energy policy is really a large trough arranged by the hogs for their convenience. Right now, the hogs are eating very, very well..." This is another reason for me to jump the current mother ship and swim for India. There, though veggetarian is more the style---though the presense of horses and hogs and dictatorship outsourcing are present. As for the "Candy Man" Sloan Session: Interesting comments by Sloan. And I like his spunk. One of my favorite pieces of Candy appeared in the Washington Post: "The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market is a classic example of the way the small fry gets devoured, but the whales of Wall Street get rescued. Here's the deal: People with crummy credit who took out mortgages are being allowed to fail in record numbers. The mortgage companies that made those loans are being allowed to fail. The Stret itself? It's bailout city"... I used to dream of a prince charming on a horse, enjoy pick roasts at the beach and eat lots of candy, now I'm concentrating on prayers: I pray in front of my favorite tryptych icon on my wall. I pray for a way to stay healthy and afloat as an average, middle-class Joanne in a non-average economic climate. How did Jed Clampett and the rest of the gang do it? They found oil... Next?
An amazing interview! Please have him back with some of the auto and oil ceos for a roundtable discussion. I sincerely hope that Obama or whomever becomes Pres. names him as energy czar. Amory Lovins has the personality of a diplomat and the mind of a creative scientist. Thank you, Charlie.
Don't agree with hydrogen being the fuel of the future (at least in motor vehicles), but the rest of the interview was very informative. Too bad for us no one was listening 30 years ago, or now for that matter. Need to have an hour with him vs the big oil CEOs and government bureaucrats.
He forgot Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley ion battery powered car. The big 3 are working on the wrong r&d, many billions over many years, according to Tesla. Tesla is projecting sales of 100,000 cars/ year. The big 3 are not all about lobbying the wrong cause, they read far too much into their own market research. As good as management is, they should know market research is NEVER done properly with the proper intent. It's amazing their research never came to the conclusion of an entry level Civic over the last 20 years, especially given Kia and Hyundai additions to that market. The SUV's have been great for them since 1985... that's what people wanted. They haven't taken care of the rest of their business.
Charlie, thanks for having Amory Lovins on your show. He's right on target and a visionary that I hope the new administration listens to. The Alaska pipeline is above ground and built on permafrost. Once this melts, and it could be fairly soon, the pipeline as we know it will be history.
It is so refreshing to hear an intelligent and articulate individual speak objectively about the full spectrum of factors driving our energy policies in this country. In contrast to the inane blathering from our politicians, this man is an Einstein. It cleary demonstrates that politics is not the solution to our problems domestically or globally. Mr. Lovins stated that government should steer and that the private sector needs to row the vehicle of solutions to our energy, environmental and economic problems. Unfortunately, getting objective officials with integrity and selfless motivations into public office may be our largest obstacle to the workable solutions expressed during this interview.
I enjoyed the show, great information & sounds like practical solutions to me.
The interview with Amory Lovins was interesting but I believe very misleading. There were many good points but there was no balance. He quoted the feet per gallon for an aircraft carrier but failed to note that aircraft carriers are nuclear powered! Coal is an abundant resource but he failed to mention the carbon emmisions associated with coal. France gets ~75% of its electricity from nuclear and I believe they consider thier position to be an enviable one. I wish there had been an MIT professor representing nuclear power and an expert on wind power to balance/challenge some of the misleading statistics Mr. Lovins used.
Thank you for presenting Mr Lovins to us. He seems like a man without a lot of political baggage thinking clearly and positiviely about energy. A man this country almost desperately needs. He brought up some figures I found a bit startling and very encouraging regarding the rise of renewable energy development over coal and nuclear sources. For my money, he's going in the right direction - away from fossil and nuclear and more importantly, away from the short term thinking that has lead from one knee jerk reaction to the next. If Mr Obama becomes President, I hope he will consider Mr Lovin for secretary of energy because I believe he will put the USA back in the vangard of one of the world's more important problems - energy devleopment and use. Let's learn more from him.
Charlie, it is for the sake of our country, that you confront executive who appears on your program and objects to Amory lovins, reality information. As Mr. Lovins says, there is money for those who will loose on the oil and car stocks they control, to make the change now for their company and our country. In the early 1990's there was a kit you could buy to place on your fuel injector to give more miles. Oil and car companies bought out the inventor, and took it off the market.
I entirely enjoyed the discussion and myself I ride a 150cc Yingyue motor scooter that gets 80 mpg. I ride 10 mos out of the year in upstate NY. Could this kind of thing turn our dependency around. Especially since the scooter cost only $700-$1000 outlay. Put that in some places w/ really good weather. They even deliver the bike right to your house w/o shipping costs. ATVdiscounter.com is the dealer.
This interview is easily the best, most informed, most clear and articulate (and surprisingly positive!) about energy/oil policy I have heard in years. Wonderful! Television at its best providing vitally important insights and reasoning in a dialogue we all need to be smart about and involved in, especially in an election year, in a democratic nation. Thanks Charlie!
Excellent Interview, I loved the show and agree, he offered what I believed to be real solutions and alternatives, rather then kicking up fear and pointing out problems but offering no solutions like alot of "people" in the know often do. Thanks Charlie, once again after watching your show I feel more aware of issues and solutions.
Wow. The best interview I've seen on Charlie Rose in recent memory. I hope we as a people can listen to voices like his. We can fix it!
The most hope filled and hope promoting conversation I've ever heard. America-PLEASE LISTEN!
Outstanding discussion. I have posted links to this video many times on discussion boards since it originally aired, and everyone who takes the time to listen is blown away by his knowledge and ideas. As Charlie keeps asking in this interview "Why are more people not listening?"
if goverment and business listened and followed Amory's alternative energy findings and programs-----america would have never have been entirely dependent with foreign countries. i have read everything that Amory and his dear friend Paul Hawkin have published.they have been on track for over 20 years and now when we are in trouble we finally hear their voice. Amory is a man of courage and his ideas are not just concepts but real solutions. At Zana Network's ceo ,I endorse his ideas and solutions and we will continue to run our business with the same vigor and ideals that amory has inspired me to emmulate.
Fascinating conversation, filled with information and spliced with humor. Please invite this guest back again! Clearly this man was, and remains, far ahead of his peers.
Two factors that are often forgotten but Amory Lovins points out: 1. Infrastructure criticality bottlenecks... in other words, decentralized energy systems are less susceptible to accidental or malicious infrastructure breakdowns/explosions/etc. 2. Logistics... in other words, decentralized energy systems save us energy / money because of less transport costs. this guy is amazing... reading natural capitalism now.
Absolutely brilliant thoughts.