SXSW Eco: US Secretary of Energy Keynote

By Jordan Gass-Poore’
Web Content Manager

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz aimed to inspire SXSW Eco 2014 attendees to take action on some of the most critical issues of our time (“All-of-the-Above in a Carbon Constrained World”) with his keynote address on the conference’s final day. Moniz discussed why technology innovation and associated cost reduction is key to reducing the world’s dependence on oil and natural gas production.

As the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Moniz is responsibility for increasing the nation’s economy and security, as well as protecting the environment through promotion and advancement of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. Moniz previously worked at MIT (he was a physics professor and founding director of the MIT Energy Initiative) until he was appointed to the President’s Cabinet last spring.

 When it comes to the challenge of climate change, the president has said, very, very directly, we really don’t have time to waste.

Power plants clearly are the single largest concentrated sources of carbon emissions in the United States. In June, the EPA issued the first draft standards to cut carbon emissions from existing plants by the order of 30 percent.

The president said two years ago said we want to cut all imports in half by 2020 — we did that this year. Two years into the eight years instead.