TV Generation.(Thomas Friedman, New York Times Co. Broadcasting Group)(Interview)

The Rockies are probably the best place in the nation to explore for energy. There's the Overthrust Belt, with much of our remaining gas and oil, and the Powder River Basin, which now supplies one fourth of our coal, and there are vast stretches of tar sands and oil shales.

Today I'm doing an interview at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory just west of Denver, a collection of futuristic buildings with an occasional windmill popping up here and there. In the car, I've been listening to a CD of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, the best seller in which the New York Times columnist gently tries to persuade his readers that globalization is not such a bad thing. His observations are rather commonplace, but he's got a tough assignment. His is an audience that writes daily letters to the editor warning, "Forget about these terrorists--George Bush is the real threat to America."

As I climb out of the car for my 9:00 a.m. appointment, a TV crew is disembarking from a van across the parking lot. "You guys doing a news story?" I ask. "No, we're with the New York Times," says the bushy-haired crew chief. "We're doing a feature for the Discovery Channel." I glance around the slightly disheveled group and, sure enough, there's Thomas Friedman, attired in a leather coat and matching gloves.

"I was just listening to your book in the car!" I say, and we chat for a minute. He is now covering energy, and will interview the folks at NREL right after I'm through. "It's not your grandmother's energy crisis, with people sitting in gas lines," he says. "But it's more pervasive."

I tell him I am writing a book on energy. "I'm big on nuclear," I say. "I think it's due for a revival. Are you doing anything on nuclear?" He gives me a blank look, as if I have just asked if he plans any bear hunting: "No."

Inside, I spend the morning with Larry Kazmerski. He's a high-spirited engineer and one of the world's leading authorities on solar electricity. I listen for a ...