Perspective was offered by Dr. Steven Chu, the 12th Secretary of the Department of Energy, in his keynote address opening the Energy Information Administration’s two-day annual conference in Washington, D.C. on April 7-8.

“We have a problem. We have many problems,” said Chu, saying that energy issues are directly linked to the health and welfare of the country’s economy and environment.

He said our dependency on importing oil is costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars annually, which is a drain on the economy. Chu said China is following a similar trend, with oil imports for the expanding economy nearing 50 percent, which compares with about 60 percent for the United States.

“On a different time scale, China has done the same [as the U.S.],” said Chu.

He said when considering energy, policy directives must contemplate what environmental and social impacts those decisions could have, frequently referencing timelines that extend beyond the current century.

“The new 800-pound gorilla in the room is climate change,” said Chu.

He highlighted, as an example, simulations that unchecked carbon emissions could have on California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, virtually eliminating the snowpack which serves as a critical water source for the state by 2075.

The social and economic impact would be enormous said Chu, noting that low snowfall for two consecutive years in the state already triggers water rationing. He said such a development—a sharp reduction in the snowpack—could wipe out the state’s agricultural industry.

Chu also said that increased energy consumption is not proportional with a better standard of living. It is true for poorer countries, in which higher energy consumption is tied with an improved economic status of its population, but said it plateaus as the per capita economic condition improves in countries like the U.S.

The energy secretary said energy conservation and efficiency are a big part of the Obama administration’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 because of these reasons. Chu also pointed to a flight by companies innovating technologies targeting these goals from the U.S.

“We need some policy signals for industries to reinvest in the U.S.,” he said.

One such innovation is reducing the energy use of buildings, saying cuts between 60 and 80 percent of a building’s energy consumption could be achieved in a manner similar to tuning up a car to improve its performance.

“Would need to be a very smart building,” said Chu, pointing to technologies that adjust and reorient energy demand as needed.

He noted too, that in the history of the U.S., companies have produced breakthrough technologies. Chu said industry labs no longer have this capacity however, but that the research gap has been filled by the laboratories of the DOE, which have claimed more Nobel Prize winners, 88, than any other global organization. He said that included within the Obama administration’s plans are a doubling in the investment in science over the next ten years.

Chu noted that oil, gas and nuclear will remain a part of the energy mix this century. Next century, he highlighted solar and wind as goals in changing the energy mix, saying the country will learn how to address the transient nature of those energy sources.