I remember my first trip to smoggy Shanghai, China.

I picked up a copy of Shanghai’s daily newspaper. Page one carried a photo of an elected official hugging a Chinese astronaut. They were celebrating China’s first space launch. On page 17 was an article about a poll that asked the Chinese people, “What is more important for China: to have a clean environment, or to be a leader in space exploration?”

Seven out of ten answered, “a clean environment”.

While I was there, I learned the Chinese expression "Same Bed, Different Dreams”. It describes the conflict that arises when people do not share a common dream.

Good leadership is about creating Same Bed, Same Dream. Clear vision helps us reconcile our need for energy with our need to protect our environment.

When not serving as Lt. Governor, I fly as a captain for a major US airline. I remember my first descent into Los Angeles, out of clear skies at 5,000 feet into thick smog -- visibility so bad that I had to rely on instruments to land. I have seen the same conditions in Mexico City, Salt Lake City and other cities.

Last week, I flew over the coal-fired power plants of the upper Midwest, and watched the smoke trails drifting northeast along the St. Lawrence River Valley, moving as all weather moves, from west to east -- from the smog of a booming Shanghai, to the inversions over Los Angeles and Salt Lake, to those fossil-fuel power plants of the Midwest, to Vermont and Quebec.

It seems we are all in the same global bed.

How do we go about creating Same Dreams?

A unifying vision for Vermont – a shared dream for the environment, for economic growth, for farmers and for educational institutions is called the Green Valley. It is an initiative to develop a “Silicon Valley” of environmental technology here in Vermont, and to sustain healthy growth on a small environmental footprint. Clean Earth Technology in North Ferrisburg and Concepts NREC in Wilder are shining examples of the concept.

As a result of some good decisions made in the past, Vermont is a leader in clean energy, with one of the lowest emissions levels and highest shares of renewable fuels of any state in the nation. Our aggregate emissions per megawatt-hour of generation are nearly two orders of magnitude lower than the US average.

We contribute less than two one-hundredths of one percent of total U.S. air-polluting emissions. And our long-term, stable power portfolio has protected us from rate spikes suffered by other states.

Vermont’s renewable supply comes chiefly from Hydro Quebec (HQ), our in-state hydro, and Burlington’s McNeil generating plant -- and increasingly, from innovative utility projects, like Central Vermont Public Service’s “Cow Power,” which helps farmers turn cow manure into methane, which in turn generates electricity.

Washington Electric Cooperative has built an electric generating facility at Vermont’s largest landfill in Coventry, where they produce methane and electricity from trash.

Efficiency Vermont, our first-in-the-nation statewide efficiency utility, helps reduce our need for new energy resources. The opportunity to stimulate efficiency continues to grow, and the manner in which we invest in efficiency should be a focus in the near term.

As Chair of the Governor’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, I know that the more we distribute the generation, the more robust and more secure our energy grid becomes. Stability is also enhanced by targeting efficiency dollars in congested areas of the grid that could also offer the greatest return on investment.

A number of Vermont companies are on the cutting edge of renewable energy technology.

Northern Power Systems of Waitsfield creates electric power systems for industrial, commercial, government, and military customers, deploying alternative energy sources all over the world.

NRG Systems in Hinesburg is a leader in wind assessment systems and other wind energy equipment.

General Dynamics is doing hydrogen fuel cell R&D at its Burlington Technology Center, partnering with the University of Vermont, Norwich University and Vermont Technical College.

The Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies at the University of Vermont is another Green Valley partnership, where research spinoffs and other technology companies get help with moving ideas to the marketplace.

As we move towards Same Bed, Same Dreams, it is crucial to provide small, emerging companies with an environment that nurtures entrepreneurship. That’s why I support the Governor’s Agenda of Affordability. We must be mindful that Vermont is an expensive place to live.

We need to control taxes -- make housing more available and affordable -- reduce the cost of energy and regulation on employers. I make it a point to meet regularly with IBM, and to listen to the concerns of our state’s largest employer. The 6,000-plus people who work there compete globally in a very competitive market. Energy costs are critical to their ability to compete globally. Vermont leads the nation in exports as a percent of our state’s economy. Vermonters who work in manufacturing depend on exports for their paychecks -- from IBMers in Essex Junction to workers at Ethan Allen Furniture in Orleans, where they compete against furniture made in China. The diary farmers of Vermont have the same energy concerns that IBM has.

New, environment-friendly businesses also require modern technology infrastructure and a highly educated, highly skilled workforce.

Vermont is working with private partners to deliver broadband and wireless infrastructure throughout Vermont. And we are pursuing a number of initiatives to train and educate Vermonters for 21st century jobs, including the Vermont Promise Scholarship program -- a 15-year, $175-million scholarship plan to make college more affordable for young Vermonters and encourage them to live and work here after graduation.

Energy is a hot topic for Vermonters and policymakers in Montpelier. The debate is passionate, over nuclear power, renewable portfolio standards and commercial-scale wind generation.

No issue has stirred discussion more than our looming energy gap, as Vermont Yankee’s license is set to expire in 2012, and the HQ contract starts to wind down in 2014. Replacing this two-thirds of our energy supply in a relatively short time frame will be daunting.

In the legislature this year, the House passed three significant bills building on last year's renewable energy bill—all designed to prepare Vermont for a safe, clean, reliable, and affordable energy future. These are a move in the right direction.

Dating from my first weeks as Lt. Governor, I have devoted considerable attention to our relationship with Quebec, and the third of Vermont’s electricity supply that flows across our northern border.

In today’s world of volatile gas prices and tradable emissions credits, a healthy relationship with HQ is important. Currently, Vermont enjoys a largely stable energy portfolio, at costs that, compared with our neighbors’, look better and better every day.

But we have big challenges ahead, and there are no easy solutions.

My brother Mark and I own a 280-acre 14,000-tap sugarwoods in Fairfield, Vermont. Sugaring isn’t a hobby for Mark; he feeds a family of five on the income from those woods, selling syrup all over our country.

We once used a gallon of oil to make every gallon of syrup. Then Mark bought a used, but more efficient boiler, and modified it to use only one quart of oil to make a gallon of the finest maple syrup in the world.

My brother has found better ways to balance energy use, the environment and business reality to improve his family’s way of life. Our state can make similar changes to improve life for all Vermonters.