How long will it take us to get to a truly clean-energy economy? Five years? Ten? Twenty-two?

That number might seem arbitrary, but many organizations and scientists see the year 2030 as a reasonable and do-able goal to achieve total clean, renewable energy.

Quite a few of those scientists are gathered in Atlanta today for the IEEE Energy 2030 conference, where they are examining the "technology, policy and economic framework required for the creation of a global sustainable energy infrastructure by 2030." With luck, we'll see some good news and ideas come out of this event.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency says that coal will remain a vital source of power worldwide through 2030 -- and actually predicts that the amount of energy generated by coal will rise over the next few years to 44%.

Of course, the World Wind Energy Association disagrees with the assessment, saying the IEA's report underplays the rising role of renewable energy.

So who will be the driving force to make this change to clean energy happen? Oddly enough, it could be our old friends at Google, who have a $4.4 trillion plan to convert the United States to clean energy. They call it Clean Energy 2030, and you can read all about it at the link.

Of coure, the economy could knock all of these plans off track. T. Boone Pickens just had to put his big wind farm project on hold, because no banks will fund it.

So what do you think? How long will it take, and what can you do to help us get to a world of clean energy? Google and Pickens can't do it alone, after all...