Friday was a fairly Steven Chu-heavy day on the E2 blog (see here and here), but here’s one more: The Energy Secretary gave an interesting interview to the San Jose Mercury News that ran Friday as well.

This exchange includes a pretty tough jab at his opponents -- Chu compares them Big Tobacco:

Q Are you worried that the political will to enact a national policy or somehow tax or price carbon emissions is gone now? If you look at recent polls, the number of Americans who believe that global warming is real and man-made is declining. The political trends are not in your favor.

A Americans were believing because of sound bites, and now they're disbelieving because of sound bites. One can honestly say that if we don't do this, we will not be economically competitive. Ten and 20 years from now, the price of oil will likely be higher — this is not a stretch of the imagination. The debate for whether smoking causes lung cancer and emphysema was actually in the first decade among scientists, but they muddied the waters for 2½ more decades. Climate change, on a global scale, is a much bigger deal, and people are trying to muddy the waters, particularly people who think they might lose. Unfortunately, it's easier to propagate fear than seeing a vision of prosperity.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Friday warned against a Senate effort to impose “buy American” requirements on certain renewable power projects funded with grants authorized in the 2009 stimulus law.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and several other Democrats are upset that federal money for new projects is flowing to overseas manufacturing of wind turbines.

They want the Treasury Department to ensure the grant-funded wind farms and other clean power projects use domestically-made parts, or halt the grant program until their legislation to achieve the same thing passes.

Over at our technology blog, my colleague Kim Hart has posted an interesting interview with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. He’s using a visit to Washington, D.C.  to make the case for San Jose clean energy companies that are seeking Energy Department loan guarantees.

Several natural gas industry trade groups are urging Senate lawmakers to ensure that gas is counted under any nationwide “clean energy” mandate that Congress develops.

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee last June approved a so-called renewable electricity standard that requires utilities to supply escalating percentages of electricity from sources like wind and solar energy.

But some lawmakers – including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) – have instead called for a broader “clean energy standard” that utilities could meet with new nuclear plants and low-emissions coal projects in addition to renewables.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that evidence of human-induced climate change is overwhelming – and suggested the blogosphere hasn’t done wonders for public understanding of the issue.

“Despite what you may hear in the blogs and things, the overwhelming evidence of climate change is growing stronger day by day, year by year,” he said in a speech at the annual conference of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

The question, he added, is not whether the Earth will warm up, but by how much.

Let’s start with a bit more from the big annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference in Houston. 

The consulting firm unveiled a study reinforcing a view that advocates of energy-savings technologies have long touted.

“The study . . . says that of all the options available, efficiency is the best way to improve the supply-demand balance quickly while keeping costs low and greenhouse gas emissions in check,” notes this Houston Chronicle piece.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday predicted that there will be “clamoring” for energy legislation when the typical summer rise in gasoline prices gets underway.

But Gibbs also signaled that energy legislation is not a top priority for the White House this year even though President Obama remains supportive of action.

Gibbs said the biggest priorities after the health care debate wraps up are financial regulatory reform and addressing a recent Supreme Court ruling that knocked down restrictions on corporate political spending. He also noted tax credits for small business hiring and other jobs measures.

Dana Milbank used a recent Washington Post column to suggest that climate change activists looking to make headway should "put away the slides of polar bears and pine beetles" and "keep the focus on national security and jobs."

But what about color photos of threatened birds?

The Interior Department, in concert with several conservation groups, on Thursday released "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change," a study that surveys the effects of global warming on various bird species.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Larry Persily to head a federal office tasked with pushing forward a long-delayed pipeline project.