(Silicon) Valley's leadership shows way on energy

[jpak]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/16106401.htm

While Washington dithers over the need for energy independence, let alone how to achieve it, Godfrey Sullivan is making a difference, one check at a time.

The CEO of Hyperion Solutions offers $5,000 to any employee who buys a vehicle that gets at least 45 miles per gallon -- basically, a hybrid subsidy. Some 150 workers have taken him up on it so far, saving the equivalent of six tanker trucks of fuel a year. Sullivan would like to see other employers do the same.

While this may be the flashiest incentive, Silicon Valley leaders and businesses are doing a variety of things to try to deal with today's perfect storm of energy challenges, from price spikes to global warming. Now the Silicon Valley Leadership Group has taken on the specific goal of independence from foreign oil as a major initiative.

When environmentalists argue for alternative energy, the Bush administration yawns. When major business organizations not only pipe up but start taking action on their own -- that might actually get somebody's attention, particularly with new leadership in Congress next year. The radical change we need will happen only if business and industry demand it.

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