Realizing his vision

Al Gore's ambitious call for 100 percent domestic clean energy within 10 years strongly evoked President John F. Kennedy's "moon shot" speech. But a better starting point on the road map for today's clean energy transformation may be where the space race began: Sputnik.

Fifty years ago, in the wake of the launch of Sputnik, the federal government authorized the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958. The legislation provided billions of dollars to inspire and train a new generation of young innovators to confront the Soviet challenge. It was a critical first step toward developing the human capital necessary to put a man on the moon and invent the technologies that catapulted our world into the Information Age.

Today, we face a new Sputnik moment as we confront the defining challenge of our time: energy. The United States is in an energy crisis. Energy prices are rapidly escalating, foreign energy dependency is increasing, and global warming continues unabated, presenting grave threats to vital national interests. As Mr. Gore's speech noted, "Our dangerous overreliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges - the economic, environmental and national security crises." The key to solving these crises is the rapid development and deployment of new, affordable, clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

The energy industry employs more than 1 million Americans and serves as the foundation of our modern economy, but nearly half of our energy work force is expected to retire over the next decade. The energy crisis worsens each day, yet American universities are graduating fewer students each year in the crucial fields of mathematics, science and engineering. We cannot allow these trends to continue.

Just as the NDEA was a critical first step toward winning the space race, overcoming the American energy crisis will require new, large-scale public investments in our nation's educational infrastructure. These investments will equip a new generation of Americans with the highest-caliber intellectual and human capital and inspire them to tackle energy as their generational undertaking. The time is now for a National Energy Education Act.

It is imperative that we transform our nation's universities and colleges into multidisciplinary hubs of energy innovation that will churn out top-notch young professionals and real-world energy solutions. We must also ensure that our vocational and technical colleges are equipped to prepare tomorrow's work force for their critical role in building a new energy economy.