My Al Gore story

Gore's impromptu humor at a recent small climate summit

Posted by Joseph Romm (Guest Contributor) at 4:50 PM on 11 Jan 2008

Read more about: Al Gore | climate | books | politics

gore_spotlight I'm not normally given to shameless name-dropping, but what else are blogs really for (other than making bets with readers)?

Over the last three days I attended a small climate solutions summit hosted by the former vice president and current Nobel laureate. It was off-the-record, so I can't report on presentations directly, but they have made me a lot smarter about the latest technologies and strategies for clean energy, which will inform my blogging this year on climate solutions. I will say now as an aside that I have become much more bullish on the potential for large-scale solar photovoltaics as a result of attending these meetings.

The VP asked me to speak for seven minutes on hydrogen at dinner Wednesday. Before dinner, I gave him a copy of the brand-new paperback edition of -- warning, shameless product placement -- Hell and High Water. He looked it over for a few minutes and said, deadpan:

I have only one problem with this book -- this blurb on the back here that says, "If you buy only one book about global warming, make it Hell and High Water. I just can't agree with that.

When he introduced me that night, he repeated the line to great laughter.

BTW, in case it wasn't obvious from his movie, the VP has a terrific sense of humor -- and not just in his delivery timing of canned jokes, but in quick, impromptu one-liners, like the one above, many of them self-deprecating. (One of the speakers from a web-based company thanked him for his work accelerating the Internet, and he said something like, "You heard I had something to do with the internet?")

And in case this wasn't obvious from his movie, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things related to climate, energy, science, and technology.

He has only one character flaw that I could see. He emceed all the panels and every single one of them ran late (including my remarks, hard to believe as that may be). Too many questions, too much curiosity. I'm guessing this is one thing George W. has on him -- probably runs a really tight meeting, with very few questions.

Gore is now working on a sequel to his bestseller, An Inconvenient Truth, which will focus on solutions, apparently not dissuaded from his task by the new subtitle on my paperback, "The Global Warming Solution" (I think I have this product placement thing figured out). Hopefully it will come out this year. It could really help move the debate.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

For story: My Al Gore story
14 Comments | Post a Comment

re: Gore's humor

The only time I saw Gore live, I got a dose of his humor:

MC: "Well, I think we can take one more question..."

Gore: "Make it two."

(Cocks head, runs hand through hair.)

Gore: "I stil have some power."

by John McGrath at 5:22 PM on 11 Jan 2008

How about a rundown on your 7 minute hydrogen

talk. Were there any hydrogen economy enthusiasts in the crowd?

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 7:42 PM on 11 Jan 2008

It was ...

I bet it was what he said on hydrogen on the History channel bio-d.

An execellent analysis. Hydrogen as an energy carrier not a source. An inefficient carrier made worse by burning it in internal combustion engines.

Hillary announced that she just heard about plugin hybrids, at a campaign stop in Commerce California. It was wonderful, she said we ought to be making them here in the USA.

Let's try to guess what the secret seminars were about? A good game. Joseph can say warmer or colder, hehey.

Plugin hybrids.
Distribuited internet enabled smart grids. And how they can store energy and match supply and demand.
Offshore wind and great plains wind.
The latest solar PV.
Biogas, organic fertilizer production, and water reclamation.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 10:33 PM on 11 Jan 2008

Just do it

Shut down coal power, industrial process heat, and exports. Coking raw steel would be the only exception.

The alternatives will spring forward organically to fill the void of coal.

by sunflower at 10:45 PM on 11 Jan 2008

Al Gore's image

The way Al Gore was mocked and travestied during the 2000 campaign struck me as outrageous. During the year or so before the election, we had been afforded occasional glimpses into his personality, and for those of us who were paying attention, he was plainly brilliant, with a sparkling sense of humor. Therefore all that mockery e.g. about his needing to cultivate the alpha male look, and his affecting earth colors, seemed bizarre and sad.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:03 AM on 12 Jan 2008

Interesting

I will be interested to learn about any evolution in solar technology which leads to it having a realistic capacity to function large scale.

Mike Johnston

by enki at 6:33 AM on 12 Jan 2008

On Hydrogen

We already have a hydrogen economy. Our hydrogen fuel has always been stored on carbon atoms up to this time. It is the evolution of that fuel to eliminate the carbon carrier which is the difficult part. At least to do it without totally rebuilding the production, storage and distribution network we already have. But it is possible.

It is true that hydrogen is just an energy carrier but so is any fuel. Oil carries the energy of the sun from millions of years ago. Solar transforms the energy of the sun. Windmills do the same with wind.

All Future Gen really is is a very old method of using coal to liberate hydrogen from water. In that process there is a overall energy gain. It takes 1000 degree steam to cause the water shift reaction C + 2H2O --> CO2 + 2H2 but when you burn H2 with oxygen the result is superheated steam at around 5000 degrees. Because of this you can use that steam to turn the turbine in your electric plant and then use the waste steam which has lost a lot of its heat to again cause the water shift reaction with more coal.

Future Gen is better than what we have now as far as coal technology but I don't like it because we can and should do better.

For that matter you could run your car, tractor, train or boat on coal using a variation of this reaction. If you run steam over coal one time you produce a H2/CO Syngas mixture. Any internal combustion engine can run on this gas mix.

Coal at retail is still about a hundred bucks a ton. One ton of coal has the same amount of carbon as roughly 364 gallons of gasoline. That would make the equivalent per gallon price of coal/water syngas to be .27 cents per gallon while a gallon of gasoline is 3.19 a gallon or more.

This same H2/CO Syngas can be produced from a variety of feedstocks (and water) such as; gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, methane, ethanol, methanol and sucrose (yep sugar). This process can be accomplished with the on board steam reformer I have previously described. In this case too the exhaust from the vehicle would probably be hot enough or nearly hot enough to use for the reformer reaction.

Mike Johnston

by enki at 7:15 AM on 12 Jan 2008

True Mike

All fuels are carriers, some more efficient than others. And some release more GHG (in procurement, processing, and transportation)than others.

Our point is that hydrogen is a very inefficient energy carrier and the various problems with it's practical application as a transport fuel make it an undesirable energy choice to back with government energy policy and subsidies and corporate capital. And the way it is now produced, stored, and transported emits a lot of GHG, far more than oil based liquid fuels.

Some breakthroughs, like inexpensive fuel cells, solar conversion of water to hydrogen, and nano tech hydrogen storage of hydrogen might change the picture someday.

Nano zinc granules that act like hydrogen gas sponges that store hydrogen at liquid like densities at room temperature under low pressure, something like that could make storage easier. maybe Bucky balls with zinc atoms affixed to the surface? Hehey, call my patent attorney.

Furthermore, hydrogen helped "..Kill(ed) the Electric car". It is used as a pie-in-the-sky excuse not to mass produce plugin hybrids. A practical technology ready now to reduce liquid fuel consumption by 90%.

Then of course all our liquid fuel could come from present oil reserves (for a few decades at least)until hydrogen or room temp super conducting solar PV or super conducting nano tech batteries or superconducting energy storage rings or whatever ...solves all our energy and GHG problems.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 7:43 AM on 12 Jan 2008

True but..

I agree that straight electric vehicles and plugin hybrids are a great solution for the individual consumer market. Consumers even seem to be coming around to accepting them and that is really the major hurdle that had to be overcome. After all they have to spend their energy dollars somewhere and whether it is on gasoline or on electricity shouldn't really matter as log as the two are cost competitive and the vehicles are equally easy to operate and maintain.

I realized that a while ago and only mention the reformer idea as a solution for existing vehicles or more as another possibility for large trucks or even jet aircraft. However the heavy truck manufacturers are also starting to develop and exhibit their own hybrid vehicles. I believe Wal-Mart has already purchased one <blush>.

Click here for hybrid truck story.

My real interest has always been in improving the production of hydrogen from water via electrolysis. That is a truly green fuel with no negative environmental impact except perhaps due to thermal pollution. No GHG's need to be produced (other than water vapor) in the production of H2 from that source if solar or wind are used to produce the electricity required.

Mike Johnston

by enki at 10:23 AM on 12 Jan 2008

Solar, wind powered cars

The better way to use renewable electricity for cars is in plugin hybrids. Even if the hydrogen were 100% renewably separated from water (50% efficient?) and compressed using renewable energy (40% energy loss due to compression and storage) and used in a fuel cell (90% efficient) and supplied to the electric motor in the car...

It would be wasting a lot of renewable energy.

If the renewable electricity is charged into the plugin hybrid battery and brought back out into the motor, that process is 75% efficient.

And with a limited supply of renewable power for the foreseeable future, every kwh of renewable power wasted is replaced with GHG or nuclear contamination related kwh.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 10:56 AM on 12 Jan 2008

Sequel...

...this is only the second time I've heard 'bout a sequel to Truth, and both times were here on Grist.

Am I missin' something here? Why isn't there publicity for this sequel thing out the whazoo? Why the low profile?

Where the heck is marketing?

by Tasermons Partner at 2:32 PM on 12 Jan 2008

My Brush with Goreness

"I'm guessing this is one thing George W. has on him -- probably runs a really tight meeting, with very few questions."

That's because George W. has very few answers. Thank you, I'll be here all week.

I was at a conference luncheon at Walt Disney World where, to my surprise/delight, Al Gore was the keynote speaker. (Sat at table right next to him, even.) During Q&A, someone asked him about the iPhone, which was due to be released to the public soon. He lit up like a little boy, pulled his iPhone of his pocket and began to gush about all the cool features. He also raved about one of the rides at Disney.

I found that giddy quality quite endearing.

Hey, a guy you'd enjoy having a beer with AND one who could actually run a country.

NoPunProductions.com ~ AmericaTheGreen.org

by Greta at 2:54 PM on 12 Jan 2008

Cool Greta!

That reminds me of a video spoof of Cheney's hunting trip. It opens with hunters walking through a prairie setting.

Sun rising, nature sounds, wind blowing the grass... then you see Al hunting for wind with an anemometer instead of Cheney hunting a Corporate crony.

The crew sets up a portable anemometer tower on a trailer.

I think it's a secret, Taser. Shhhhh... a little mystery goes a long way where human attention is concerned.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 8:33 AM on 13 Jan 2008

More Gore lore

I still like the opening line he used for his speeches a few years ago: "My name is Al Gore, and I used to be the next President of the United States."

by William Bert at 1:20 PM on 14 Jan 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.