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In less than a decade, cleantech has gone from a geeky, derided niche of the tech world to a growing industry juggernaut. In another decade, could it be the centerpiece of the American political landscape?

The perfect storm is brewing for just that scenario. Concerns over global warming — potentially the greatest challenge the world has yet faced — have coincided with supply shortfalls in oil, which in turn has driven up gas prices during the housing crunch. Security concerns about the Middle East are at the forefront, due to the Iraq war.

Riding the storm wave is Al Gore, who said today at a speech that the United States must generate all of its electricity from carbon-free sources within 10 years. And because Gore doesn’t believe in carbon capture and storage (CCS), that means he wants to cut out coal, oil and natural gas. Everything would have to depend on renewables like geothermal, solar and wind power, perhaps with some nuclear power thrown in for good measure.

Drawing comparisons to the moon race of the of the 1960s, Gore called for a complete overhaul of the American economy, capped by a carbon tax paired with a reduction in personal taxes. “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn,” he said.

Why 10 years? Gore said in a later interview with CBS that a compressed timeline is necessary because, on the more accepted 40-year goal, “nobody takes that seriously.” The danger for Gore, of course, is that nobody will take him seriously.

But Gore is also fairly transparent about his own aims. “I see my role as trying to change the public opinion,” he told Katie Couric. “I think the real solutions to this climate crisis must involve a sea change in public opinion.”

One way to tell that climate change and energy security are becoming serious issues on the American stage is the profusion of public figures reaching for prominence. Along with Gore, conservatives and Republicans have begun pushing for a new energy infrastructure, like oil baron T. Boone Pickens, who is pushing hard for wind power, as well as natural gas for transportation. Cleantech is becoming a powerful chip to use for business and personal motives.

The energy generation companies that are, in a way, being used as pawns in a political debate — from solar power energy generation to energy efficiency through advanced building materials — could well find themselves in a flood of attention they didn’t fully expect.

Terry Tamminen is the former top environmental advisor of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and is also former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has a reputation for having “turned Arnie green”.

Tamminen left his post as permanent advisor in 2006 but says he still advises Schwarzenegger as well as the governors of Florida, Maryland and, Minnesota, on the renewal of environmental legislation. Tamminen also has a role in venture capital: He sits on the advisory board of San Bruno-based venture capital firm Vantage Point Venture Partners. He is also an operating advisor for Connecticut-based private equity fund Pegasus Capital Advisors.

I talked with Tamminen at his office in Santa Monica about some hot topics in making California greener.

VB: The plan to build a high-speed train to Northern California has given rise to a lot of pro- and con opinions, as we’ve covered. What do you think about the plan?

TT: It’s a great idea. I’m not sure if it’s a best use of public money, though. The first line is said to cost about $40-50 billion. If you take that amount of money and divide it between some big cities that need mass transit, like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Bernadino, you’ll probably do much better in getting people to use mass transit. The government could encourage the high-speed train with smaller investments and help private investors by giving some land and speeding up the permitting process.

VB: What are the best ways for the government to support using solar power and other renewables?

TT: Californian renewable standards have to be federalized. According to our renewable portfolio standard, 20 percent of the energy in California has to come from renewables by 2010, and 30 percent by 2020. If we had that at the national level, it would spur all kinds of renewables. Then the investors would know that there will be a demand for the product, whether it’s wind or solar power, or something else. Some financial incentives wouldn’t hurt either, because we have been subsidizing fossil fuels for so long.

VB: California is considered the leading state on environmental issues in the US, but there has been criticism that the reforms to make the state greener are not proceeding as quickly as they should. What do you think?

TT: The evidence is very much that we are the leading state. The average American uses 12,000 kWh electricity per person per year, while the average Californian uses 6,700. The policies take some time to become successful. In 2006, when the governor signed the global warming solutions act, we were at that point the first state to have that kind of legislation. Today, there are 28 states that have plans and seven that have put them into law like we have. Several more will do so this year, so by the time the new president takes office in January 2009, the majority of the US population will live in a state that is doing what it would do if it was a separate state under the Kyoto accord, and that’s largely due to the Californian leadership.

VB: Will California reach its goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2010?

TT: We will be a little late, by maybe a year. That’s better than anybody else in the US. Edison’s territory in Southern California is about 16 percent; they’re going to be the closest. Northern California is at about 10 percent. There has been an effort, but one problem is, we don’t have the transmission lines. For example, we have a number of solar thermal projects in the desert, but we don’t have the the transmission lines to get the energy into the city where it’s needed. Rooftop wind and solar plants would solve part of the problem because they don’t need transmission lines. The most important thing to reach the goal is energy efficiency. Even if you have solar and wind power and hydrogen vehicles that emit nothing, it takes time to get those things into the marketplace. Energy efficiency takes place immediately and reduces greenhouse gases.

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Kleiner Perkins, the well-known venture capital firm that backed Google, Netscape, Sun, Amazon and many others, has always had a soft spot for politics.

Now the firm has added former Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore as a partner — in an continued effort to ramp up its investments in the area of green technology. It’s the firm’s latest big name addition. It hired former Secretary of State Colin Powell two years go, and has an arrangement with former eBay executive and California politician Steve Westly, who works out of the firm’s back office. However, since it hired Powell, we’ve heard nothing about Powell’s activities with the firm, so its not clear how much these accomplished people are really help with investments.

There’s an exclusive story in Fortune about Gore’s move, which contains a detailed description of the collaboration between Gore and Kleiner’s leading partner John Doerr. It’s a great piece, written in the classic, engaging style of author Adam Lashinsky. Here’s just the starting snippet:

After “a conversation that’s gone on for a year and a half,” according to Gore, he has decided to join his old pal [Kleiner Partner] John Doerr as an active, hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley’s preeminent venture firm.

The move is more than another Colin Powell moment (the former Secretary of State signed on as a Kleiner “strategic limited partner” two years ago and has hardly been heard from since). Gore is joining the firm as Kleiner makes a risky move beyond information technology and health-care investing into the fast-growing and increasingly competitive arena of “clean technology.”

According to Doerr, by 2009 more than a third of Kleiner’s latest fund, which was raised in 2006 and totals $600 million, will be invested in technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Already Kleiner has invested more than $270 million from various funds in 26 companies that make everything from microbes that scrub old oil wells to electric cars to noncorn ethanol. Twelve of Kleiner’s 22 partners now spend some or all of their time on green investments.

Doerr, in turn will join the advisory board of Generation Investment Management, the $1 billion investment company Gore started three years ago in London with David Blood — to invest in publicly traded “sustainable” companies, and Lashinsky’s piece has more.

Kleiner’s efforts to save the planet are noble, and Lashinky’s portrayal of Doerr and Gore’s plans are inspiring. We can’t deny that. However, there’s a question that lurks unanswered here, and that’s just how much these investments will really yield in profits.

Gore won’t be visiting Kliener’s offices regularly, so he’s installed a high-definition videoconferencing system to dial into Kleiner’s weekly partner meetings. He’s also contributing his KP salary to charity, but no word on whether he’ll also be donating his “carry,” or profits from investments.

[in photo above, courtesy of Fortune, is from left, Blood, Gore and Doerr]