Oct. 7--Climate change and national security are immediate challenges facing U.S. energy policymakers, but they are also long-term problems needing durable solutions, keynote speaker William Hogan said Wednesday at the National Energy Policy Institute's inaugural conference.

Hogan, research director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, recounted the folly of such well-intended but ultimately futile experiments such as coal-to-liquids technology and the Energy Independence and Security Act. Stricter fuel standards for cars simply drove people to buy more trucks, he noted.

"We didn't think through the unintended consequences," Hogan said during his speech on the University of Tulsa campus. "We have lots of evidence to suggest we can go off in wrong directions."

Hogan's warnings echo a theme of the year-old NEPI, which makes its headquarters at TU and intends to deliver a comprehensive report on alternative fuel options early next year. The organization, NEPI president Tony Knowles said, wants to find the options that work, that are affordable and that will hold up over time.

The institute, seeded with $8 million from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, used this first conference, titled "Power for the 21st Century: Reinventing America's Energy Grid" as a starting point. The organization's goal is to spur policy changes that decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil and also helped clean up the environment.

"We're at the deep end of the policy pool," Knowles said in between panel discussions. "The intellectual capital sitting in this room is pretty impressive."

Aside from Hogan and Knowles, who is a former oil-field worker and an ex-governor of oil-rich Alaska, participants included state and private officials who seem committed to alternative-energy solutions. Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Matt Baker, OGE Energy Corp. CEO Pete Delaney, Regulatory Assistance Project Director Richard Sedano and Elizabeth Salerno, an American Wind Energy Association director, were among the panelists.

Salerno's Powerpoint presentation showed that U.S. investment totaling $17 billion in wind projects even exceeded longtime leader Germany last year. Wind currently accounts for less than 10 percent of national electricity generation, but the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to juice that to 20 percent by 2030.

Reaching the goal would require 305,000 megawatts of potential wind energy installed, Salerno said.

"Yes, this is a heavy lift," she admitted.