In a bold statement in his 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama told congress that if they would not take action to curb global climate change, he would. Then, only months later, the President introduced an action plan without the aid of congress. Also in 2013, the President met with a number of thought leaders in energy to discuss the pursuit of a clean energy agenda. Those leaders turned to former Colorado Governor, Bill Ritter, now the Director of the Center for a New Energy Economy at Colorado State University for recommendations on further action on climate and clean energy. That endeavor culminated in a report titled, Powering Forward: Presidential and Executive Agency Actions to Drive Clean Energy in America.

This week on our Energy 101 program, we talk with Governor Ritter about the report. The Center for the New Energy Economy gathered one hundred CEOs, CFOs, academics, researchers, NGOs and government leaders to weigh in on climate and energy issues. Together they determined the most critical areas, such as financing renewable energy, responsible energy production, alternative fuels and vehicles and 21st century utilities, and made recommendations for moving forward.

"I should be really clear, that there was some disagreement. We compromised on a variety of things. But even some places we got to where there wasn't a compromise. This was our document, we were making recommendations to the president. We say it in the document, not everybody who participated agreed with everything that we're recommending. But we felt like, in the stakeholder process that we undertook, that we had the ability to make that recommendation because we had enough people tell us this is the right thing and this is how this is going to move this agenda in a serious way. " ~Governor Bill Ritter, Director for the Center for the New Energy Economy.

Listen this Saturday, to learn more. Also, visit the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University website for more information on clean energy advancements. Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA airs Saturday mornings at 10:00 on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine.