POWER STRUGGLE

摘要

Whateverthe outcome of November's election, an America with a greater commitment to clean energy will undoubtedly emerge. But there's more than one way to green a cat, so how do the presidential candidates differ on energy issues? IT'S hot - close to 40 ℃ under the scorching California sun - and David Mills is loving it. He's the chairman of Ausra, a solar energy company attempting to pioneer a made-in-America revolution in renewables. "In the coming decades, clean energy is going to be 10 times bigger than the internet and IT combined," says Mills. "It's not just mad scientists any more." Mills is a symbol of how California is set to lead this nascent revolution. A Canadian, he spent more than a decade at the University of Sydney in Australia developing his ideas on generating electricity by heating water with the power of the sun. Last year, frustrated by what he saw as government indifference, he packed his bags and took his company to California, attracted by the state's plan for renewables and by the relative abundance of venture capital. "The energy business is the largest business in the world, and with climate change it all has to be replaced," he says. "We are just waiting to deliver the boom."