Posted on 23rd May 2011 @ 4:17 PM

"Clean energy is like the silicon chip in 1960, or the internet in 1990 - just much, much bigger."

"Building a low carbon economy creates the biggest market in human history, involving trillions of dollars. The question facing Canada is how do we ensure we're a seller not a buyer, into that market."

"To a large extent, we've already invented what we need. The idea that we're waiting for a majic bullet is absurd. What we need now is financial and political innovation."

"Climate change is not a future threat, it's already here. It's not like some unsavory character that might one day crash the fossil fuel party, and ruin the good times. It's already here. It's in the kitchen, stealing beers and breaking furniture. The fossil fuel party needs to end."

"People often treat clean energy like the kid's table at the fossil fuel party, a lot of sound and fury, but not much substance - Adults drill for oil and burn coal - kids put up solar panels. Well the kids have grown up. As a matter of fact, it's the adults who are drunk and can't be trusted to get us home."

"Efficiency is not a hippie thing. It's about economic competitiveness. We waste half of the energy we use. We could cut our energy use in half and have the same lifestyle. We need to be smarter about efficiency."

"We have ten to 20 years to turn the ship around and we're not going to do it by writing tip books on how to lower one's carbon footprint."

About Planet Traveler - North America's Greenest Hotel

"There's nothing radical about Planet Traveler. We took five or six existing technologies and put them to work in the same place. And what we found out is that you can lower your emissions by three quaarters and make money doing it."

"The idea that a hotel is green because there's a little less water coming out of a showerhead is completely irrelevant. It's a distraction from the real game. The real game is carbon."