Ecomunicipality.com

What a week.

First, T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil man, comes out and basically says he's going "all in" in investing in wind energy and renewables throughout the Midwest.

Then, Al Gore, former Vice-President and creator of An Inconvenient Truth, comes out with a speech detailing the imperative nature of transitioning to renewable energies--and fast.

Gore's plan calls for going to 100% renewable energy electrical generation in the next decade. While this is an aggressive goal, perhaps even aspirational, there are a lot of people in the know who believe it can be achieved--but only if America gets the kind of leadership that summons the national will to act, much like JFK did in getting a man on the moon in the 1960s

Not everyone is sold on the Pickens Plan, especially the idea that we can switch America's car fleet over to natural gas. Still, it's pretty amazing that one of the biggest Texas oil men of all time is now a convert to wind power, albeit large industrial-scale wind power.

All in all, an interesting and amazing week, especially considering that I myself completed my first wind energy training at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association in Custer, Wisconsin.

Wind has tremendous potential to provide clean, inexpensive, safe energy for many years to come. But, the technology, while reliable and well-known, still has a ways to go in terms of being scaled appropriately and finding a regular spot among professionals and builders who would do the installing. We can do it, but only if we get experience by doing it over and over again first.

But, from what I can see in the last week, it's not a question of if, or even when anymore. It's just a question of who, besides these two giants, will be able to provide leadership in Washington and summon America's collective will to act.

Because, frankly, the time for inaction is over.