Discovering and embracing ways to avoid using imported fossil fuels is a hot topic in Tucson.

The first 1.5 hours of Friday's Alternative Energy Expo, which continues today rom 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center, attracted more than 500 people.

Attendees learned about solar devices, energy-efficient lighting, alt-fuel vehicles and other energy-saving topics.

And an Alternative Energy Forum held earlier Friday attracted 70 community, government and business leaders who strategized on making sustainable energy a reality.

Joseph Orr, 7, a student at Family Life Academy at Christ Community Church, said he is already concerned about the environment.

He said that burning coal to produce electricity makes smoke, and solar offers a cleaner way generate power.

"We have to keep our world clean," Orr said as he roamed the aisles of the Expo Friday afternoon visiting exhibits. "We need plants and animals to live."

Bob Lamb was interested in a solar water heater display.

He said the expansive expo attendance shows a strong public interest in alternative energy sources.

"This is all very interesting and I think it will really catch on," Lamb said.

At the forum held earlier Friday at the Arizona Inn, experts warned that our dependence on foreign oil coming from unfriendly, unreliable sources means we need to develop new sources of energy.



The United States uses 20 million barrels of oil per day, or 25 percent of the world's consumption, said Gerry Harrow of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.

Transportation makes up 68 percent of the U.S.'s consumption.

Other nations like China are cranking up their energy use, while world oil production is dropping, he said.

The U.S. now depends heavily on imports.

"If they shut the valve, we would run out in 53 days," he said.

Kris Mayes of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which oversees regulated utilities, said the ACC's rules requiring utilities like Tucson Electric Power Co. to generate 15 percent of the power they sell from renewables by 2025 will boost solar, wind and other alternative-energy sources.

That is up from the current 1.1 percent standard.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who released a report on solar energy in southern Arizona Friday, said, "The stage is set to take it to the next level."

She said renewable implementation means economic benefits.

Implementing the increase in the ACC's renewable standard to 15 percent by 2025 will create 24,000 new jobs in the state and add $12 billion to the gross state product, Giffords said.

Giffords said that solar incentives and programs, research and development and education are needed to make the region "Solarcon Valley."

"We have a road map now," Giffords said. "I'm optimistic and energized.

"Southern Arizona has the land, the sun, and innovation at the University of Arizona and in industry. We can do this."

But the best strategy is conservation, said Dudley Sondeno of Southwest Gas Corp.

"The best way is not having to produce that unit of energy at all," Sondeno said.

"We have to make sure we use the energy as efficiently as possible to do the work in office or home," he said.