LAS VEGAS (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the United States would "rock the world" if it paved the way for an energy independent state, territory or nation.

"We have got to convince people this can be done and it would be good economics," said Clinton, addressing an audience at an energy summit meeting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Clinton said that if one place - Nevada or Puerto Rico, perhaps - showed the world that energy independence is economical, it would "capture the public's imagination."

Clinton said Puerto Rico would be a prime candidate for energy independence because it imports most of its power at a high cost to the people. Clinton also suggested several nations, including Rwanda, Papa New Guinea or one of the Caribbean nations - places that have low power demand and are sunny and windy.

"There should be one state to prove you could do it - and it should be you," Clinton told the Nevada crowd. "I promise if you do, it would rock the world."

Clinton also laid out 10 priorities the United States should have in any new energy plan, including a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions, longer-lasting tax credits to develop clean energy sources and improving the efficiency of the nation's electrical grid.

His audience, a group of politicians and national energy experts at the National Clean Energy Summit, plans to develop recommendations Tuesday and bring them to the Democratic and Republican parties.

"I say, 'Let's bring it on,"' said Jim Owen, spokesman for Edison Electric Institute, the private utility industry's trade association. "Let's see what proposals come out of it."

Owen called Clinton's agenda "ambitious" but said it included suggestions that the nation's utilities would support, such as expanded research for carbon dioxide storage and accelerating a shift toward plug-in hybrid electric cars.

But Clinton also suggested a federal mandate that would make electricity rates less dependent on the amount of power sold and thus give utilities more incentive to encourage conservation, a concept known as "decoupling."

"That could be a hornet's nest," Owen said, because state regulators have traditionally set the rules for utilities. "That would be a tricky proposition."

Clinton called for an overhaul of the nation's electricity grid - a complex, expensive undertaking he compared to building the country's interstate highway system.

"I know it's controversial, but think about how you're going to feel if your grandchildren don't have a world to live in," Clinton said. "Yes, I think we should do this, we're going to have to modernize this grid anyway. It could cost up to a trillion dollars."

But Clinton said the benefits of new jobs and sending less money to oil-producing countries far outweigh the costs.

"There's a decade's worth of work to do in this," he said.

Clinton said too much energy is going to waste in places where wind and solar energy are abundant because the United States hasn't built transmission lines to transport the power to faraway places.

"I'm positive it needs to be done because I'm tired of standing in windy places where they have no options," he said.

The summit was organized by Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, along with the liberal think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund and UNLV.

Texas oilman-turned-windpower advocate T. Boone Pickens was scheduled to speak Tuesday morning, while New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and Utah Gov. John Huntsman also are slated to address the group.

Panel discussions include job growth in the renewable energy industry, improving efficiency for businesses, and government's role in encouraging a transition from fossil fuels.