By Julianna Parker
As printed in The Norman Transcript, December 5, 2007.

Oklahoma must develop sustainable and renewable energy sources to provide for future energy needs, the state's energy secretary says.

"We have a lot of work to do, a lot of research and development to do, and if we don't do that we won't get there," said David Fleischaker. He addressed University of Oklahoma students through the Presidential Dream Course program sponsored by the engineering and earth and energy colleges.

Fleischaker's call to alternative energy is surprising to many. He is the CEO of an oil and gas company and a government official in an oil and gas state. However, he was also an environmental lobbyist in Washington, D.C., for many years.

The Oklahoma native said these dual sympathies help him see both sides of the issue.

Fleischaker gave his 10-point plan to meet future energy needs Tuesday. He focused on the role of the government because he said it is difficult to change the ingrained consumption activities of Americans.

"For a century this country grew of the basis of cheap, secure and plentiful energy," he said. "It's influenced our society. â?¦ More fundamentally, it's influenced our expectations, who we are, what we think, what we think we're entitled to."

The days of easy energy are over, Fleischaker said. The United States needs to become less dependent on foreign energy sources, he said, and the way to independence is through alternative energy.

In addition to the risk of dependence on foreign oil, the United States isn't producing as much oil as in the past. There are several limiting factors, Fleischaker said, including increased infrastructure costs and limited access to resources.

The solution to the potential shortage of energy is not simple, he said.

"The answer isn't found in a single solution," he said. "You've got to come at it in multiple ways."

The United States is already moving toward that, he said.

"There is no question that, if not this year, certainly in the next two or three years, we will have CO2 limits in the U.S.," he said.

In addition to changing government standards, costs will help motivate Americans to switch to alternative energy, Fleischaker said.

"The truth of the matter is $100 oil may, like castor oil, be hard to stomach, but it may be good for us."

The increased prices will make companies and consumers search for alternatives, he said.

Oklahoma is a prime candidate to lead the way in alternative energy sources, he said. Wind energy is already taking off in the state. And biofuels will be next, he said.

The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center was recently funded with a four-year grant. A combined effort of OU, Oklahoma State University and the Noble Foundation, it is researching how to use native Oklahoma prairie grasses to create energy.

"We've been selling energy to the eastern United States for years, and we're still going to continue to do it, but it'll be a different kind of energy," Fleischaker said.

Many of the audience members agreed with what Fleischaker's said, but some did not.

Norman resident Dave Thomas called biofuels an "absolute disaster," citing information about the lack of return from corn ethanol.

Fleischaker agreed starch corn is not the answer. The Bioenergy Center is carefully looking at all scenarios and focusing on switchgrass instead of corn, he said.

Others in the audience thought Fleischaker didn't go far enough.

"I believe we're still looking short term, we're not looking long-term enough," said Andrew Crews, an OU freshman who plans to run an alternative energy multinational corporation one day.

Crews said he appreciated that Fleischaker is trying to make people aware of the potential energy shortage in the future. Hopefully, the American people will change their habits as a result, he said.

"I think this is a century of change, for people to change the way they live."

This article appeared in The Norman Transcript, www.normantranscript.com, on December 5, 2007.