Powering the Future

Chances are you've heard of hybrids and biofuels, but what about oil-producing yeast and turbinelike buoys that transform ocean waves into electricity? Those are just a couple of the alternative-energy sources that may power the future according to Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund and coauthor, with Miriam Horn, of the new book "Earth: The Sequel" (Norton).

"Everyone knows the current story of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, worsening hurricanes, dying coral reefs," said Krupp. "'The Sequel' is the story of what happens next. We are just on the threshold of a great race." While he says oft-cited solar power technology is our best bet for now, Krupp emphasizes that quirkier projects, like algae concoctions that eat up carbon emissions, are essential elements of a smart, diversified energy strategy. NEWSWEEK's Katie Paul talked with Krupp about why he thinks the next industrial revolution looks bright green. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You seem to be a big fan of solar energy. Why do you think there's so much promise to it?
Fred Krupp: We have two chapters on solar energy at the beginning of the book because we think there's tremendous potential there. Every hour, the sun provides the earth with as much energy as all of human civilization uses in an entire year. So, if you could capture just 10 percent of it on a piece of 100-mile square piece of land, you could power the entire United States.

Previous attempts to harness solar power haven't been popular or cheap. What's changed?
Conrad Burke at InnovaLight figured out a way to take cheap silicon and liquefy it and then paint it onto metal. So instead of solar cells installed on the roof, these sheets of metal with thin solar cells actually become the roof, taking the price of solar electricity down substantially. Also, with solar thermal energy, capturing heat instead of immediately going to electricity, one advantage is that you can store hot water much more cheaply than you can store electricity. There is tremendous potential there, even before advanced batteries are developed, and reason to think solar energy can compete. For those who think this is a long way off, I would point out that First Solar Inc., which the late John Walton [a son of Wal-Mart's founder] invested a few million dollars in a few years ago, now has a market cap of about $16 billion, and the Walton estate's stock is worth about $5 billion. So there is tremendous wealth already being made in this area.

And besides solar? How are they addressing some of the negatives associated with biofuels?
I think we've come to understand that the current generation of biofuels has problems and that we need a whole new generation. In the short-term, turning sugar into fuels other than ethanol would have many advantages, given the infrastructure problems ethanol creates. In the long-term, we are much better off when entrepreneurs develop ways to turn wood and fiber, not food, into energy.

Which researchers are closest to finding cleaner energy sources?
We don't know who is going to win. It could be neurobiologist Michael Trachtenberg who studies the way the brain gets rid of CO₂ and found a way to [harness] that enzyme that's in our blood. That could be the invention that allows us to burn cheap coal, or do so cleanly. Or it might be an idea being developed at Arizona Public Service, of bubbling gases from smokestacks through pipes to grow algae—the fastest-growing plant on earth—and then turn them into biofuels. Or it could be Eli Gal in the coal arena, who figured out a way to capture carbon dioxide in chilled ammonia. So the possibilities are endless once we set up that level playing field.