Amory Lovins was on Charlie Rose's PBS show on Tuesday, November 28. It was his first time at Charlie Rose's "famous" table. You can see the complete interview at http://www.charlierose.com/
Amory has been working on energy problems for thirty years and more. I first met him at New Alchemy Institute decades ago and last saw him about a year ago when he came to speak at MIT. He is a very smart and knowledgeable guy with a playful way of speaking. He has been outlining the ways to get off fossil fuels throughout his career. In fact, transforming our energy infrastructure has been his career.
Amory is well worth listening to. I may have a few quibbles with his optimistic outlook but he has done yeoman work for decades and any time he comes to town, I'm willing to spend some time listening to him speak.
Amory's solution, as it has consistently been, is to use energy smarter. He recommends efficiency first and especially systems efficiencies which, of necessity, requires systems thinking, a very difficult thing in the present climate. He calls for tripling the efficiency of cars, trucks, and planes. He believes that it can be done without sacrifice and through the market system. He also believes that micro-power and decentralized generation of electricity has already made nuclear power irrelevent. He believes that we have the technology available now to transition away from fossil fuels without pain and with much gain.
He may be right, he may be wrong but his track record has to be respected. If you want to argue with him, better have your numbers straight. His ideas are available in the book Winning the Oil End Game and at http://www.rmi.org
PS: He calls it "global weirding" not global warming.