Energy Crossroads 2007 kicked off last night with opening remarks by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey. The message? Get excited about alternative energy.

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Jason Chuang

R. James Woolsey, former CIA director, opens the talks for Energy Crossroads last night. Woolsey spoke about the U.S. dependency on foreign oil.

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#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7015
Jason Chuang

Students gaze upon the new Tesla Roadster, a high-performance electric sports car. The car was displayed in front of Tresidder as part of the Energy Crossroads conference, which began yesterday.

A student-organized symposium that will run through tomorrow, Energy Crossroads’ opening day also included a career fair and a clean technology expo.

In his speech, Woolsey outlined energy-related problems and discussed how solutions should be approached. He argued that the U.S. needs to make substantial, cost-effective changes to the energy system, and that it has to recognize two central problems: the danger posed to national security by dependence on foreign oil and a vulnerable electricity grid. He also cited climate change due to global warming as a pressing threat.

“Our consumption of oil is like a six-pack-a-day cigarette habit,” Woolsey said. “We are addicted, and we are endangering everything.”

Woolsey lamented the $300 billion the U.S. spends annually on foreign oil, but stressed the importance of searching for multiple solutions. He called hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger vehicles “one of the worst” transportation solutions due to the vast amount of infrastructure necessary and the questionable energy savings.

“We have to assume that we need a portfolio of solutions and need to utilize technical breakthroughs we already have,” he said. “We can’t ignore costs and just throw money at the problem. That strategy didn’t work very well in the 1970s.”

Woolsey suggested three areas that he said deserve our focus — electricity, biofuels and carbon composites.

After Woolsey conclude his remarks, Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of the National Resources Defense Council’s Energy Program, spoke about California’s role in combating the energy crisis. He stressed the importance of recognizing energy efficiency, citing refrigerators as examples of appliances that have become increasingly efficient despite increasing size and stable costs.

Cavanagh said the U.S. can achieve greater efficiency through a combined effort of government policy and incentives for businesses to innovate.

He challenged the audience to be proactive and said the onus is on citizens to make a difference.

“For you, California energy and climate policy must no longer be a spectator event,” Cavanagh said. “The opportunities are there for you, and we need you to seize them.”

Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, highlighted some of the technologies that will aid the search for new sources of energy. He discussed the promise of wind and solar power as well as ethanol produced from switchgrass instead of corn. Chu pointed to distributing energy as a critical challenge and said the U.S. has a “primitive energy transmission system.”

Energy Crossroads will continue today, with three panels and the keynote address by three-time Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman at 1 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium.

For more information and a full schedule of events, visit http://www.energycrossroads.org.