Tom Friedman: Green Expectations

I actually started out to write a book called Green is the New Red, White and Blue, and I came to realize that there was a bigger story going on: What happens when we enter a world where so many people can live like Americans? It’s a great thing that so many people can now enjoy the kind of lifestyle that we enjoy, but with that comes much greater consumption and energy usage.

“What do we have to do to have abundant, clean, reliable and cheap electrons?” To me, the answer to the problem is you need a market signal. I’m not a believer in a Manhattan Project. I’m a believer in the market. But markets have to be shaped, and the way they’re shaped is with price signals. You get the price signals right and it will stimulate the market to do massive innovation on the scale we need.

I think the only thing that changed was it strengthened two views. One is what a huge-scale project this is. If you’re not using words that begin with “T,” as in “trillion,” whether it’s the trillions of watts or the trillions of dollars it’s going to require, you’re getting nowhere. And lastly, the thing that impressed me is the scale of the opportunity. Clean power, clean energy, clean water—those are going to be the next great global industries. Are we going to lead them, or are others going to lead them?

Imagine if we didn’t lead the I.T. revolution. Where would we be today? Well, another revolution is [emerging]. It’s called the E.T. revolution—energy technology—and nobody’s claimed this one yet. We made the I.T. revolution; let’s make sure we make the E.T. revolution. If we don’t, we will not be a superpower.

I’m not a fan of corn ethanol. I don’t think it really makes sense to put all that water and all that energy into food that is going to produce so relatively little bang for the buck. I am for basically an all-electron system. I don’t think that molecules are the future. We will need molecules for transition, but we have to move to a system of clean power generation, of clean electrons, into a smart grid, into a smart home, into a smart car. That’s what I call the Energy Internet, and that, to me, is the future.

I have a motto which is, “Change your leaders, not your light bulbs.” [It’s important] for everyone to change their light bulbs, but we have to focus on changing leaders. I’ll put it this way: Leaders write rules. Rules shape markets. Markets give you scale. If we have the wrong leaders—leaders who are in no way sensitive to the green necessities—we’re just not going to go anywhere.

To think big. Swing for the fences. We need a carbon tax, cap and trade, some kind of price signal, a national renewable energy portfolio standard.

My approach to China is very simple. Every time I go there, young Chinese say to me, “Mr. Friedman, you got to grow dirty for 150 years. Now it’s our turn.” And I say to young Chinese, “You’re absolutely right, it is your turn. Take your time. Grow as dirty as you want.” … Because this is going to be the next great global industry, and I want to make sure [America has] the people to lead it.