LAS VEGAS - When you think about desirable destinations for the dog days of August, Las Vegas probably doesn't immediately jump to mind.
But that's where President Obama is Monday for the National Clean Energy Summit.
I'm in Las Vegas, too.
Because the fact is it's always a good time of the year to be in Nevada if you're there to highlight how clean energy creates good jobs, expands our economy and cuts energy waste and carbon pollution.
Consider for a moment the 6,000 positions Tesla expects to fill near Reno at a massive factory for advanced batteries - a major announcement that helped propel Nevada to the top spot nationwide in a major 2014 clean energy jobs report.
Or the jobs installing and maintaining a nearly 30-megawatt solar array at Nellis Air Force Base south of downtown Vegas.
Or the thousands of workers it will take to retrofit Nevada's schools, businesses, casinos, homes and apartments to make them all use energy smarter via energy efficiency.
Projects like these are hard evidence that when it comes to clean energy, Nevada has a huge opportunity to create even more jobs - and reduce carbon emissions - all across the state.
In fact, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), the national, nonpartisan business group I co-founded and chair, unveiled a new report Monday showing that in addition to ramping up clean, renewable energy sources like solar, the Silver State can expand its economy and cut carbon emissions, right now, through increased energy efficiency.
The report, available at www.cleanenergyworksforus.org, states that energy efficiency is the quickest, most cost-effective way for Nevada to meet the Clean Power Plan's requirements that the state cut its carbon emissions from power plants 13 percent by 2030 relative to 2012 levels.
Also today - and just a few hours before his scheduled speech this evening in Las Vegas - President Obama announced new executive actions and commitments from the private sector to accelerate America's transition to cleaner sources of energy and cut energy waste.
Two friends and E2 members - Greg Smith of Ohio-based Energy Optimizers, USA and Steve Cowell of Massachusetts-based E4thefuture - lead energy efficiency companies that are part of the president's announcement.
For example, the commitments made by Energy Optimizers, USA will implement renovation projects in more than 12,000 low-income properties, helping create more than 6,500 jobs while saving building owners and tenants millions of dollars on their electric bills.
Watch this video featuring Greg to see what his growing energy efficiency business looks like from the inside:
The new E2 Nevada energy efficiency report identifies specific actions Nevada and its utilities can take to ramp up energy efficiency.
For example, since it's much cheaper to make buildings more efficient at the time of construction than to retrofit them later, Nevada should update its building energy code from the 2012 version of the International Energy Conservation Code to the 2015 version. By ensuring that new buildings use the latest techniques and technologies to make them as energy efficient as possible, we can avoid even more energy waste.
Enacting commonsense measures like these sends strong, clear market signals to the private sector. These market signals give businesses more confidence to increase investments in their own operations, which helps them to develop new technologies, capitalize on smart clean energy solutions and hire more workers.
While high-profile solar projects in Nevada like the one at Nellis Air Force Base (or at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, which is home to one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in the world, and is where President Obama will address Monday's National Clean Energy Summit) get most of the press, do not for a moment dismiss the economic benefits energy efficiency delivers to Nevada.
In fact, according to statistics cited in our new report, if Nevada scales up efficiency to help meet the Clean Power Plan's standards, it can create 4,600 jobs and save $3.4 billion. That's a lot of jobs - and it's a lot of money that can be reinvested right back into the Silver State's economy.
So when the president takes the stage tonight, remember that the economic benefits of clean energy are already right here, right now. And that when it comes to the fastest, most cost-effective way for Nevada to create more jobs while reducing its carbon emissions, scaling up energy efficiency is the best bet.