Vegas is an ironic place to have a clean energy summit. There is nothing green about this concrete oasis in the desert. No vegetation, no water, no way to get here other than burning copious amounts of fossil fuel. (On the other hand, you can save a lot of fuel by coming here to visit New York, Paris, Rome, and Egypt in miniature rather than flying around the world to see the originals).

Yet there was something compelling about this star studded event organized by Senator Harry Reid, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and UNLV. As the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid has the challenging and crucial task of shepherding comprehensive energy and climate legislation through the fractious Senate this fall. So when Senator Reid asks for help making the case everyone committed to that goal is anxious to oblige. Hence, the all star cast led by President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Labor's participation in the event was particularly striking to me. Not only the Secretary, but also Terry O'Sullivan, President of the Laborers' Union, Danny Thompson, Executive Secretary Treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, and many local union presidents and members. NRDC has been making the case for some time that investing in clean energy will create good paying jobs, but its far more convincing when the men and women on the ground, facing unemployment rates among the highest in the nation, are asking why there isn't a national program to seal the leaking air conditioning ducts in all federal buildings and how can we accelerate the construction of solar energy projects in the Nevada desert.

In some ways Vegas is the perfect place for a clean energy summit. The heat here is so intense that it is literally shocking to leave an air conditioned building and walk outside in the middle of the day (so no one does). Even walking back from dinner at 10 o'clock last night it was still seriously hot — a good reminder of what is in store for us if we don't solve global warming. Meanwhile, Nevada has the best solar energy resource in the country, and a small part of it could theoretically produce all of our electricity needs if we build the transmission capacity to move the power to where it is needed (my colleague Johanna Wald, who came in from San Francisco to attend the summit, is working with a coalition of environmentalists and clean energy developers to design a cooperative planning process to expedite responsible citing of renewable energy projects and the transmission lines they will need to be viable).

Vegas will never be a green city, but people here understand that its future depends on becoming greener. High speed rail to bring people here without burning jet fuel, higher performance buildings that leak less cool air, L.E.D.s to light up the strip without wasting more than 90% of the electricity they use, and solar energy to power it all without adding CO2 to the atmosphere, making Vegas and the rest of the world even hotter. There are plenty of workers here, and around the country, who are anxious to get started.