WHY DO YOU CARE WHAT WE DO?

Energy drives America. We need it for transportation, for manufacturing and business, for our homes and offices. It fuels our economy and lifestyles today, and holds the key to our aspirations for the future, powering the next generation of American innovation and research.

But today’s energy comes at a cost:

• Our dependence on oil and fossil fuels tangles us in a highly-charged web of international politics, driving our country’s foreign policy choices and leaving us vulnerable to a small handful of nations that are politically unstable, undemocratic, or hostile toward us.
• Our environment suffers, as these conventional fuels generate air pollution, acid rain, and most of the greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming. Scientists and world leaders universally are sounding the alarm about the impact of this on climate change, flooding, and major storm activity.
• And the supply is shrinking. The world’s major energy corporations point to two barrels of oil being consumed today for every one discovered. The era of cheap and plentiful oil to fuel our energy needs has ended.

At the same time, international demand continues to rise, feeding the economic development of emerging nations like China and India, and driving up the price faster than at any time in history. China has become the #2 consumer of oil, behind only the United States, where less than a decade ago they were not even in the top ten. Demand for these resources is projected to continue growing over the next two decades, increasing by more than 50%.

Every United States President from Nixon to Bush has called for new investment and innovations to break our national addiction to oil. The world’s expanding energy needs lie at the heart of America’s most important economic, national security and environmental issues. Increased commitments to energy innovation by China, India and others threaten to challenge our leadership position in the global economy. Thomas Friedman wrote recently in the New York Times that, "The major industrial country that gets the greenest the fastest, with the smartest technologies – that’s the country that will lead the 21st century."

In the midst of this, NextEnergy stands as a catalyst for change.

Never has the opportunity been better for alternative and renewable energy to succeed. Never have consumers, industry and government been more open to them. Never have the economics and the marketplace been a stronger force to advance them.

We are NextEnergy. We improve lives by advancing alternative and renewable energy. Look at who we are. Look at what we’ve done. And look at what we are on the cusp of achieving.

Help us to shape what’s next.