Gore Touts Wireless for Green Innovation

Touting a familiar theme while still playing to his audience April 3, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore told a crowd at the annual CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas that the wireless industry should be a major player in solving climate change. In particular, Gore said, the wireless industry would play a central role in developing smart electrical grids.

In a wide-ranging hour-long presentation, Gore said the current global economic crisis and the U.S. stimulus package present opportunities to focus on sustainable technologies.

"Wireless is going to be one of the key tools that we use to solve the climate crisis," Gore said, noting that as energy production models are reduced in size, opportunity knocks for wireless connections to the electrical grid. "The alleged conflict[s] between the economy and the environment are mostly myths."

Gore's green comments are staples of his speeches. Since Gore was narrowly defeated in the 2000 presidential election, he has written two books on the environment and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his climate change efforts and an academy award for his documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." He currently serves as chairman of Generation Investment Management, which focuses on sustainable investing.

Gore's CTIA keynote on the final day of the conference was part history lesson and part wireless industry pep rally, as Gore linked communications landmarks such as the printing press and the telegraph to current breakthroughs in technology. He called the wireless industry "one of the great bright spots, one of the great success stories in our American economy."

Politically speaking, Gore gave President Obama a thumbs-up for his use of the Internet in successful White House campaign.

"One of the reasons why Obama was able to win was because he was able to use these new communications devices to raise money, not just from the conglomeration of special interests but from ... millions ... across the country," Gore said.