Sitting through a brainstorm session at the Fortune event, this one focused on the challenge of energy/global warming. Great group discussion that talked on almost all aspects of what it will take to solve one of the biggest problems the world faces -- how to change the way we produce/distribute/use energy on a global basis.
As you might expect for a conference in the Valley with a bunch of VCs and entrepreneurs and engineers, there was a ton of energy (pun intended) on the technology fixes to the issue, ranging from better storage to better monitoring/measurement to smarter ways of just flat out producing the energy.
Of course, I offered a different take on things: what we have is a communications challenge. There is zero doubt that the technology exists to solve, in really short order, all the physical problems we face. What is less clear is that there is any will to do two other things:
1. Establish a coherent national energy policy (without which the problem gets much harder to solve).
2. Launch a communications effort that re-frames the issue in a way that galvanizes people to action.
The second point is not easy as well -- but is essential. Right now, the debate is all too often framed as us v. them, or win/lose. Either drill offshore or pay more for oil, either suffer through conservation (it's just a virtue, you know), or drill for oil, etc. The challenge is to frame the discussion in terms of national security, or (if you look at it as a U.S. problem first) as a new exercise in american ingenuity. And, to make it simple, clear, actionable.
IMHO, the first problem to solve is the communications one -- get that nailed and the policy and technology will rapidly follow.