Video: Secretary Ernest Moniz on Energy Innovation in the Americas

Speakers:

• Ernest Moniz, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
• Robert Mosbacher, Jr., Chairman, Mosbacher Energy (interviewer)

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz discussed trends in the energy sector for the Americas with Mosbacher Energy Chairman Robert Mosbacher at the 45th Washington Conference of the Americas. Moniz talked about natural gas as an important natural resource for the region and shared his perspective on declining oil prices. For Moniz, renewables should be part of the current energy matrix, given that technology has decreased costs and with climate change as a pressing issue. The secretary added that the region can foster collaboration between academia and the private sector to boost innovation. "In this administration, the deployment of solar in this country has gone up more than twentyfold, and it's the cost reduction that has been driving that," he said.