Today the trade associations for solar, wind and hydro power banded together to present a proposal for immediate and near-term federal policies to address challenges related to the current economic climate as well as to spur long-term growth. The statement and press conference were an impressive display of unity and the group has outlined five specific steps that they want the current and new administrations to take.

Alongside the call for policy action, during the press conference there was also a challenge for the new administration to make a more symbolic gesture — restore renewables such as wind turbines and solar panels to the While House. As many know, one of Reagan’s acts in the 1980s was to take down perfectly good solar panels that President Carter had installed. My friend Matt McDermott at TreeHugger.com has called for the same thing ( Be The Change).

I hope that Obama heeds the call on both the policy and the greening the White House front.

Earlier this month I attended the 2008 Geothermal Energy Conference and Expo in Reno. Enthusiasm was high and attendance was even higher, up 60% from the prior year even before the final day of the event. And it’s understandable given the late summer announcement and subsequent blanket media coverage of Google’s investments in geothermal energy and the frequent mentions by our presidential candidates when talking about the need to increase our use of renewable energy.

However, even riding on the heels of these industry catalysts, a common sentiment echoed across the show floor was how the geothermal energy industry is losing the ongoing battle of PR to other forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar. Those in the industry wonder why since geothermal represents a baseload (always on) source of power that is abundantly available, especially in the western U.S.

Maybe if Google were to make a new geothermal investment every month the industry would get the sustained attention it deserves. Aside from that, what we can rely on are the media focused on the renewable energy sector to keep us up to date on developments in the industry.

Want to hear more about the geothermal industry straight from the players in the space? Stephen Lacey of RenewableEnergyWorld.com produced a podcast from the Geothermal Conference, featuring Glitnir Bank (ICR’s client), Google.org, Potter Drilling, and Raser Technologies - check it out here: The Beginning of a Geothermal Renaissance. Or for a basic primer on geothermal and its place in America’s renewable energy mix, go ahead and check out the Geothermal Energy Association’s “Geothermal Basics” page.