In the next economic "stimulus" package, instead of just throwing money at people to buy stuff, how about we "stimulate" them to go "green?" For instance, give people and small businesses vouchers (or credits, or whatever) that can be redeemed specifically to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses? How about spending money directly on public transit, high-speed rail (e.g., "bullet trains"), a "smart" power grid, and renewable energy? In short, how about we help people and small businesses - as a study by the Center for American Progress (CAP) calls it - "Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy?"
As CAP President (and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff) John Podesta writes:
A comprehensive clean energy agenda is essential to the future of our country. The green recovery and infrastructure investment described here is doable in the early days of a new administration. It would enable our country to take significant steps, through energy efficiency and renewable energy development, to move toward a low-carbon economy, while Congress and the next administration move toward the swiftest possible implementation of an economy-wide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.
Sounds great, you might be saying, except for one problem: we're in a recession right now, so how can we afford the "luxury" of a "green economy?" Well, in fact, as Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at UMass-Amherst writes:
..Public investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy can overturn the long-held conventional wisdom reflected in [the Heritage Foundation's Donald] Kreutzer's critique, which claims we can have a green economy or a growing economy, but not both. In fact, green public investments to fight global warming are both a powerful engine of job creation and a necessary instrument for achieving environmental sustainability.
Here's a good factoid from Dr. Pollin: "Over the long term, a $1 million increase in green investment spending that is offset by a $1 million reduction in spending within the oil industry will still produce a net increase of 12.5 jobs."
A bit of quick math and what do we have? Cut fossil fuel industry subsidies by $10 billion and put that into green investment and you get 12,500 jobs. Institute a "cap and trade" program that raises $100 billion, plow that into green investment, and get 125,000 jobs. If you think this is good, just wait, it gets even better.
...When we retrofit public buildings and private homes to raise their energy efficiency, or improve our public transportation systems, virtually every dollar is spent within the U.S. economy. By contrast, only 80 cents of every dollar spent within the oil industry remains within the United States.
And, of course, a huge side benefit to all this green job creation and investment in 21st century infrastructure for our nation is that it will start slashing our greenhouse gas emissions. Yet another huge side benefit is that it will enhance our national security position in the world by helping us break our "oil addiction," which has us "borrow[ing] money from China to buy oil from countries that don't like us," as Mark Warner likes to say.
And as if all that's not enough, a green energy economy will, over time, save people huge amounts of money on their energy bills. Imagine instead of writing a check to Dominion each month, you got a check from THEM for the power you fed back to the grid from your energy efficient home, solar panels, etc? Now THAT is the kind of change we can believe in! :)
Come on. The Volt will be available in 2010? What kind of hedge is that? Waiting to see if the price of gasoline drops before they get down to re-tooling just in case they want to pump out some more monsters?
Podesta 'gets it' re Global Warming. He speaks knowledgably and passionately about the issue and the need/opportunity to take action. His post is a good sign that "green stimulus" will be near top, if not top, of the agenda come January.
My take, a few months ago, on the announcement of this plan: http://getenergysmartnow.com/2...
Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis.Economists across the spectrum - including Martin Feldstein and Lawrence Summers - agree that large and rapid investments in a jobs-intensive infrastructure initiative is the best way to revive our economy in a quick and sustainable way. Many also agree that our economy will fall behind if we continue spending hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign oil every year. Moreover, national security experts in both parties agree that we face a dangerous strategic vulnerability if the world suddenly loses access to Middle Eastern oil.
As Abraham Lincoln said during America's darkest hour, "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew." In our present case, thinking anew requires discarding an outdated and fatally flawed definition of the problem we face.
Gore then lays out a 5-part plan to produce 100% of our electricity from carbon-free sources within 10 years.
1. "Congress should offer large-scale investment in incentives for the construction of concentrated solar thermal plants in the Southwestern deserts, wind farms in the corridor stretching from Texas to the Dakotas and advanced plants in geothermal hot spots that could produce large amounts of electricity."
2. "we should begin the planning and construction of a unified national smart grid for the transport of renewable electricity from the rural places where it is mostly generated to the cities where it is mostly used."
3. "we should help America's automobile industry (not only the Big Three but the innovative new startup companies as well) to convert quickly to plug-in hybrids that can run on the renewable electricity that will be available as the rest of this plan matures."
4. "we should embark on a nationwide effort to retrofit buildings with better insulation and energy-efficient windows and lighting."
5. "the United States should lead the way by putting a price on carbon here at home, and by leading the world's efforts to replace the Kyoto treaty next year in Copenhagen with a more effective treaty that caps global carbon dioxide emissions and encourages nations to invest together in efficient ways to reduce global warming pollution quickly, including by sharply reducing deforestation."
More than three in four voters - 78% - believe investing in clean energy is important to revitalizing America's economy. Of those, 50% said they strongly agree clean energy investment is vital to the nation's economic future, a new Zogby Interactive post-election poll shows.Support for clean energy investment is particularly strong among younger voters - 87% of those age 18-24 and 80% of those age 18-29 believe this type of investment is necessary to help improve the U.S. economy. African American voters (94%) and Hispanic voters (84%) also showed overwhelming support for clean energy investment.
While the vast majority of Democrats (96%) and independent voters (77%) view clean energy investment as a key means to boost the U.S. economy, more than half of Republican voters (58%) also said the same.