Charlotte is now a major power broker

You've read the headlines: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett bets millions on wind-generated power and other renewable energy sources. Global car companies race to build smarter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. President Barack Obama visits Charlotte to champion clean energy.

And as the president can attest after visiting lithium battery maker Celgard last year, there's no denying that Charlotte boasts hundreds of new energy and energy-related companies that will help shape the nation's energy production - and debates - for years to come.

"It won't happen overnight - it's an evolution," says Ronnie Bryant, president of the Charlotte Regional Partnership. "But this isn't pie in the sky: we're positioning ourselves as the new Energy Capital, which means becoming part of the sustainable and renewable movement - and even cleaner fossil fuels, which aren't going anywhere."

Charlotte's economic development leaders like to boast that we're home to 27,000 energy-centric workers in more than 200 organizations, and in the "green" job segment, the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA ranks in the top 3 percent among U.S. metros for these new and emerging jobs.

These days, that's impressive stuff. Like Duracell's Energizer Bunny, Charlotte has somehow kept going and going during one of the toughest economic periods in recent memory.

Across the city, lunchtime banter about interest rates, accruals and portfolios is slowly giving way to talk of kilowatts, baseloads and thermal breaks.

The Charlotte Chapter of the national industry networking group Young Professionals in Energy boasts more than 400 members, whose ages typically range from 20 to 45, from over 125 companies.

Industry experts project clean energy jobs - or jobs that reduce greenhouse gases, pollution, and conserve water - to continue growing at more than twice the overall job-growth rate. More than ever, there's another examples of an energy firm, large and small, forging Charlotte's future as an energy hub.

There's multinational Siemens Energy expanding in Charlotte, its new worldwide center for gas turbine production. And family-owned General Microcircuits in Mooresville remaking its business so that 65 percent of the company's shipments are energy-related. Industry thought leaders, from London-based Nuclear Energy Insider to the National Association of Energy Service Companies, are coming to the area to network and brainstorm.

And, of course, there's Duke Energy's imminent merger with Progress Energy, which, if approved, would create the nation's largest electric utility headquartered in uptown Charlotte.

As Charlotte's energy sector thrives, Blake Clifton sees only the brightest future for the local chapter of Young Professionals in Energy that he founded.

"I think we could easily be three times our size today," says Clifton, 35, principal at Charlotte-based Abundant Power. "Even now, people come to our meetings and are blown away by how many energy professionals there are here in Charlotte - and the thing is, we're just getting started."