If there ever was an event for our time, it is the Solar Decathlon (original post w/video) on the National Mall in Washington DC, the fourth one of which just concluded. Begun in 2002, with support from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and BP Solar, the Solar Decathlon brings together 20 universities from the U.S., and some from overseas, to erect innovative, full sized, green, solar powered, energy efficient homes in a "solar town" on the expanse of grass in front of the Nation's Capitol.

Last week I had the honor and privilege of attending the invitation-only 5th Clinton Global Initiative in New York City (video). No event in history brings together so many current and former heads of state, non-government organization heads, international development professionals, corporate CEOs, investment bankers, Nobel prize winners, foundation executives, philanthropists, peace makers, energy leaders, environmental activists, and the media. It was no less mind-boggling for me this time than it was my first time, four years ago (I missed the first one). President Obama opened the event, and talked about how he had learned from his mother about international development. Hillary closed the CGI on Friday with a rousing speech about the role of women and girls as they relate to the world's problems (this year's overarching theme).

The idea is great, and it works, but the name is terrible. It came out of Germany in English translation. We should call it "clean energy purchase" or "solar buy back" or at least Feed-in Rate, since we pay electric utility rates, not tariffs.

Utopias have always had a place in the American vision, from William Penn's "Sylvania," to Robert Owen's New Harmony, to the Oneida and Shaker communities and the Amana Colonies, right up to The Farm, in Tennessee founded in 1971 by back-to-the land hippies.

Solar electricity may seem like a gift from the Gods, but in fact it was an invention of man (perhaps God inspired), and it is not new. The photovoltaic (PV) effect was discovered in 18th century France, promoted by Germany's Werner von Siemens, and developed as a workable product by our own Bell Labs in 1954. But it was pioneers like Peter Varadi, with the appropriate initials "PV," who created the modern solar PV industry. (In this blog I'll occasionally profile solar leaders, but only those I've had the privilege of knowing personally.)

Recently, Greenpeace did more to help stop climate change than all the heads of state gathered in Italy at the G8 summit. While Greenpeace USA executed a daring banner drop on Mt. Rushmore (video), the Group of Eight failed in their negotiations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and instead only produced more hot air on the subject.

Thirty years ago, when I was handling PR at the newly-formed Office of Energy Conservation and Solar Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, we released a TV public service announcement called "Master of the Sun (video)." It featured a Ponca Indian poet high on a Colorado mountain talking with his young son: "Since the beginning, the American Indian has valued the power of the sun," he intones. Against pretty visuals he tells his son what the sun can do for us, then concludes as the music crescendos: "The sun is power. The sun is security. The sun is your future. The sun is available now and forever."