Installed U.S. capacity of baseload geothermal power is 2958 MW. Our geothermal power is set to double over the next several years, according to “U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Update,” by the U.S. Geothermal Energy Association.

The following table gives the power currently on-line, in Phase I (secured rights, exploration drilling), Phase II (confirmation being done), Phase III (final permits), and Phase IV (production drilling underway, facility under construction):

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I had said I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a question on energy tonight. What I should have said is that I wouldn’t be surprised if McCain repeated his big energy lie, that he supports alternative energy, which of course he never has.

Let me briefly hit the big picture on the debate. The two insta polls out, from CBS and CNN, show that McCain lost by a large margin, by 13% or so. That large a gap means independents in particular didn’t like his performance (by 22% in this poll). And that is no big surprise since for independents, who fundamentally don’t like partisan politics — that’s why they aren’t a member of either party — repeatedly showing contempt for one’s opponent is a highly visible and undesirable quality in a potential president, especially someone who is supposed to be a reach-across-the-aisle bipartisan guy.

On the energy front, McCain continues to push a lie that has been so well debunked factually, you simply have to wonder what is going on inside his head:

I have voted for alternate fuel all of my time…

No one can be opposed to alternate energy.

I don’t know which is of those statements is more disturbing. The first is a staggering lie as the voting record demonstrates irrefutably (see “The greenwasher from Arizona has a record as dirty as the denier from Oklahoma” and below).

The second sentence presumably means “no one in their right mind can be opposed to the obvious energy solution for this country” or, more simple, “support for alternative energy is just plain common sense.”

It is a shockingly delusional line from someone who has one of the longest and strongest records against alternative energy in the Senate. It is also frighteningly similar to the equally earnest but equally delusional defense he offered at the Aspen Institute when asked about the eight straight votes he missed on extending renewable energy tax credits in the past year:

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Thousands of Americans are rising up together today to say, “We’re Ready” for green jobs now. Van Jones, head of Green For All and a Center for American Progress Action Fund senior fellow, explains:

George W. Bush’s house of credit cards is falling down — on the heads of the American people. We need dramatic action — but not just to bail to financial titans who destroyed the economy.

We need to throw a green life-line to the people who want to rebuild it.

There is only one comprehensive solution to the present mess: put America back to work retrofitting and repowering America with millions of green-collar jobs.

Watch it:

The Green Jobs Now Day of Action is taking place in every state in the nation, with over 660 different events (here’s the photostream — you can participate by sending in your own photo that declares “I’m Ready” for green jobs). Here are just a few:

ATLANTA

As Newt Gingrich sells his toxic pollution-based agenda across town, the Green Jobs Now people are coming together to install thousands of next-generation lightbulbs and conduct energy audits in communities like Adair Park that are too often forgotten. Join the work — and celebration. Here are some of the organizations working together to build the green recovery in ATL:

United Way Metropolitan Atlanta; Green Jobs Institute, Green World Promotions, Clayton County Clean; Energy Coalition; Spellman, Morehouse, Emory, Agnes Scott HBCU’s; Georgia State University; Georgia Stand Up; Annie E. Casey Foundation; National Wildlife Federation; SEEED, Sustainable Atlanta; Edge Connection; Southface Institute; Reach Them to Teach Them, Conserve Georgia; Home Depot; Green Atlanta

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