Sun, Jul 6, 2008 (2:07 a.m.)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn’t dreaming when he says Nevada can be a world leader in the renewable energy industry. We have been saying the same thing for more than a decade and it is now time — with gas prices increasing almost daily — for the state to act more aggressively in developing its potential.

The Nevada Democrat this week announced the perfect forum for starting a lasting and productive dialogue about ways to greatly expand what Nevada has already begun in terms of attracting renewable energies, including solar and geothermal plants.

On Aug. 19 he will co-host the National Clean Energy Conference at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion. Also hosting will be UNLV President David Ashley and representatives of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Included among the scheduled speakers are former President Clinton, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and Texas businessman T. Boone Pickens, whose plans to build the nation’s largest wind farm are taking shape.

The lineup suggests that it is not just in Nevada, but in the entire West, that resources exist to create a boom in renewable energy — a boom that would not just lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil, but also revitalize the region’s economy.

Our view, and Reid’s, is that Nevada could emerge as the state most closely associated with this boom. Our solar energy potential is second to none in the world, our geothermal potential in Northern Nevada is also a world leader and the Energy Department says the state’s wind resources are “consistent with utility-scale production.”

In a statement announcing the conference, Reid said, “Being the world leader is more than leading by example by tapping into our state’s vast renewable resources. It also means leading the national discussion.”

Nevada and UNLV have experience at this. Sixteen years ago the university hosted a similar forum, attended by many state officials, to help draw national attention to hydrogen — a clean fuel that then was generally viewed with skepticism but is gaining traction today.

We hope next month’s conference serves as an awakening to the potential of Nevada and the West to lead the way on renewable energy.