“What we most need out of Copenhagen is a clear, shared vision of the direction the world is going to take in the future.   For a variety of reasons I think that future is likely not to be dominated by a large scale ramp up of nuclear plants, we can debate that.  I think it will play a slightly larger role, but not a huge additional role.  I doubt that in the near term or mid-term carbon capture and sequestration will be the future.  I think we have to decide to put a price on carbon so that markets can make intelligent decisions about the allocation of capital to the most efficient production of clean electrons and the most efficient reduction in waste of energy...and...The early stages of a movement toward a 350 parts per million goal which is I think where we’re going to have to end up are same as the early stages of a move toward 450 or some larger target.  Once the center of gravity shifts, once we move toward a clear shared vision of a renewable energy low carbon future then you’re going to see large flows of investment that create a self fulfilling prophecy.  To conclude, again to the internet analogy, Moore’s law emerged over a 40 year period and it’s not a law of physics, it is a law of R&D spending based on the assumption that others are going to meet a target of 50 percent cost reductions every 18 months.  That same phenomena can and will emerge with the R&D flows into renewable energy conservation and efficiency.”     

~Al Gore, January 30, 2009, World Economic Forum in Davos