Sunday, April 4, 2010
This article by ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner appeared in the “Green Issue” of the New York Times’ Chicago Life Magazine.
Many of us are excited by the new plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) coming into the market later this year. They’re cool, high-tech and use less gasoline from countries that don’t like us very much and threaten America’s national security. They’re a big winner for reducing pollution in the Northern Illinois market. What’s not to like about cars with environmentally-friendly names like the Nissan Leaf, or charged-up names like the Chevy Volt?
The devil is in the details, however, when it comes to whether driving and charging the PHEVs will lead to less, instead of more, pollution compared with “conventional” hybrid gas-electric vehicles (HEVs) that are available to consumers today. As my real estate friends say, it’s about “location, location, location.” It’s also about what time you’re charging the PHEV. Whether the mix of electricity generating sources used for charging are high-CO2 or low-CO2 depends a lot on the location and the time of day. In short, if the charging source is electricity generated by old highly-polluting coal plants, on balance, that may hurt the environment more than it helps in some cases.
That’s the conclusion of a 2009 study by the National Research Council of the National Academies and a 2007 study issued by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. When coal plants supply more than 50% of the power mix, the equation is not favorable for PHEVs compared to HEVs when it comes to the CO2 pollution (global warming) and SO2 (acid rain-causing) pollution; for other pollutants the data varies. HEVs work better for the environment in these places.
PHEVs are an important emerging technology — where the cleaner energy power sources are used to charge their batteries. Let’s compare and contrast among markets. In Indiana, about 95% of the electricity is supplied by coal plants. It’s not a good place to look for PHEVs as a pollution solution. However, in Northern Illinois, most of the power supplied at the margin at night is from low/no-CO2 wind power and nuclear power plants. Much better.
Peak power prices are very high on hot summer afternoons when the most highly polluting plants tend to be running on the margin to meet soaring electricity demand from cranked-up air conditioners and fans. However, at night, the Northern Illinois power market has so much surplus nuclear and wind power available that prices are very low. Indeed, during some night-time hours, as supply exceeds demand, the prices are so low that the can’t-easily-be-shut-down (so-called “must run”) nuclear plants and wind turbines are “running negative” They make money selling power during the day, but are essentially giving it away at night.
Here are three policies and actions help make the PHEV pollution equation work favorably:
1. Location Matters – Let’s Pick Our Places for PHEVs vs. Conventional HEVs: Let’s push for PHEVs and favorable policies in those places where wind power, solar power, hydro power and nuclear power supply more than half of the power mix. Northern Illinois (nuclear and wind power) is a good market. South Dakota, too (hydro and wind power). Coal-heavy Indiana and Southern Illinois are not. Sorry. In many places, HEVs work better for the environment.
2. Time Matters – Discount Off-Peak Electric Rates for PHEV Charging: In most Midwestern states, electricity rates are flat, while power market prices are not. On a hot summer day, consumers may be paying less then the market price per kw of electricity, but on that same summer night, the utility may be charging much more than the power, transmission and delivery actually cost. Therefore, utilities have an incentive to encourage PHEV owners to charge their cars during off-peak night times, rather than during high-price peak power day times. Time of use rates are economically justified, but complicated for many social, practical and equity reasons to implement on an across the board basis. However, there are steps that we can take in a sensible direction.
Offering discounted off-peak rates that incentivize PHEV owners to charge their cars in their garages at night, instead of during the day, is a win-win-win-win when the location is right as discussed above. The wind power, nuclear power and hydro power generating companies gain new, more profitable sales. The utilities gain profitable electricity sales, rather than losing money by selling peak-priced power at lower flat rates on hot summer days. Consumers who charge their PHEVs at night save money (about $150 – $175 per year in Northern Illinois) through the discounted off-peak rates. All of us gain environmental quality benefits from PHEV charging when the energy mix equation results in less pollution instead of more.
Let’s bring environmental groups, consumer groups, auto companies, utilities, nuclear plant owners and wind power owners and developers together to petition the state public utility commissions to authorize pilot programs of discounted off-peak rates for PHEV charging. New meters will be required, but those costs can be amortized through the rate savings over time.
3. Time Matters – Solar Power Works Well for PHEV Charging: Solar energy is most available on hot, sunny afternoon when power market prices are highest and the power is needed most. So, if PHEV charging stations are powered by solar, the pollution equation works well. How can we encourage that to happen? First, by using planning, zoning and electric utility regulatory laws and policies to encourage location of charging stations in places where there is good solar access. Second, authorizing favorable “net metering” rates for charging stations to sell solar-generated power back into the grid when it is not fully used for charging cars.
The Northern Illinois Plug-In Hybrid Opportunity: President Obama stated his national goal of 1 million PHEVs on the road by 2015. Let’s look at the opportunities in his Northern Illinois home area of, which is one of the best places in the country for PHEVs to accelerate:
- Large market of car buyers and users in third largest metro area in the U.S.
- Large amount of auto manufacturing and suppliers, including two existing plants that could potentially be retooled – the Ford plant on the southeast side of Chicago, and the Chrysler plant in Belvedere.
- Surplus, zero marginal cost, no-greenhouse gas wind power on-line and under development. Some of this excess wind power supply is now being sold out-of-state.
- Surplus, low marginal cost, no-direct greenhouse gas nuclear power generation.
- Precedent for setting pilot program time-of-use rates, which would offer low off-peak electricity rates for charging PHEV batteries at night.
In short, the markets, policies and players are aligned in Northern Illinois for this PHEV strategy to succeed. This is a win-win-win-win for more transportation efficiency and better national security, less global warming pollution, more utility and energy generation company revenues, and more job creation.
Getting more PHEVs on the road is a key step forward in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and, in some parts of the country, they also can sharply reduce both CO2 pollution. However, in places whose electricity comes primarily from coal, we need to develop PHEVs simultaneously with legislation to clean up the electricity system. Then everyone can take full advantage of PHEVs’ technological improvements.
The pollution equation shifts dramatically depending on the power mix in the charging location and the time of day. From an environmental standpoint, location and time matter, a lot. We should focus on supporting PHEV rollouts in Northern Illinois and other places and at those times where there is excess low/no-CO2 wind, hydro and nuclear power available at the margin. Let’s drive the market to achieve common benefits for the car-buying public, clean energy generators and utilities, clean car manufacturers and auto workers, and national security.
Monday, February 8, 2010
By Howard A. Leaner
Investing in modern, fast, comfortable and convenient higher-speed rail service is a smart move. Better rail service will improve mobility, reduce pollution, create new jobs and spur economic growth.
The new federal investment is about more than “just speed” to succeed. “Modern, comfortable and convenient” count as much as “fast” for transforming our transportation system for the 21st century.
First, modern trains can excite people and attract riders, as will train stations that are well-lit, clean and enjoyable central places. Wi-Fi or Wi-Max available all the way along the rail corridors can allow travel time to be productive work time for businesspeople, study time for students and reading time for others compared to air travel frustrations and new limits on cell phone and texting while driving.
Second, the top speed is less important than the average speed and overall trip time. For example, the 150 mph Acela high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor moves at that top speed for only few miles; its average speed between New York City and Washington D.C. is around 80 mph.
The best way to go fast is by not going slow. Synchronizing high-speed rail and freight rail improvement programs, such as the CREATE program in the Chicago area, can create double plays benefiting both passenger and freight service by alleviating congestion points and clearing out bottlenecks. Using skip stops as more high-speed train runs are added will avoid turning them into milk runs.
What really matters to passengers is how long the overall rail trip takes when compared to long car trips and door-to-door air travel for businesspeople, students and families traveling to see each other. This is a classic “compared to what” situation. It’s not just about bragging rights for top speed.
Third, let’s have comfortable trains. Nice seats, easily accessible plugs for laptops, good cell phone and computer access, and decent food.
Fourth, this is about convenience. Understandably, few people take the train from Chicago to Cleveland arriving at 1:45 am, or the return trains departing Cleveland at your choice of 2:59 am or 3:45 am. That’s why I can’t easily take the train with my three teenage sons over the weekend to visit the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The key is increasing the frequency of train service with enough reasonably scheduled trip opportunities to work well for people.
When Amtrak improved service between Chicago and St. Louis a few years ago, ridership doubled. Better high-speed rail service is expected to triple ridership in the coming years.
All of this adds to the environmental benefits of displacing pollution from air and car travel, and the economic vitality from pulling jobs, people and business into our downtowns.
High-speed rail investment meets the public’s mobility needs and boosts the economy. For years, federal transportation funds almost exclusively supported auto and air travel. Today, Americans spend $1 billion a day on foreign oil and an average of 4 weeks each year stuck in gridlock. High-speed rail is 3X more efficient than cars and 6X more efficient than planes on a per passenger mile basis. Better performance, more national security, less pollution for the future.
Everyone is feeling the strain of the economic downturn, but investing wisely in a 21st century rail transportation system is important to keep our economy moving. According to an economic study conducted for nine state Departments of Transportation, the new Midwest high-speed rail network can create 57,000 permanent new jobs across the region, produce more than a $1 billion in additional household income, and spur almost $5 billion in private new development near Midwest rail stations.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and the interstate highway system wasn’t built in a year. The recent federal funding announcement is the first step towards a modern high-speed rail system that will create jobs and boost our economy, better enable people to go from city-to-city, and protect our environment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-learner/modern-high-speed-rail-is_b_452964.html
Monday, February 8, 2010
South Dakota should put more wind power into the sails of the state’s economy and job creation. South Dakota has the nation’s fourth-best wind power potential but only the 20th highest amount of wind power operating – 313 megawatts. By contrast, Iowa ranks 10th in wind power potential, but is second-highest in operating wind power capacity – 3,670 megawatts.
That tenfold difference in wind power development amounts to about $7 billion of economic investment, thousands of jobs, and cleaner air. What accounts for this huge difference? Smart public policies and prioritization by leading public officials.
First, early on, Iowa enacted a state renewable energy standard, which required utilities to purchase designated amounts of wind power. Iowa has since ratcheted up its renewable energy policies in various ways. By contrast, South Dakota finally enacted a more voluntary renewable energy standard mechanism in 2007. It’s beginning to have an impact, but South Dakota is playing catch-up and needs to ratchet it up.
Second, proposed federal renewable energy legislation would enable South Dakota to benefit from an expanded national market to sell its robust wind power resources. Indeed, South Dakota is around the top of the winners’ list if any of the federal renewable energy standard amendments being championed by Sens. Dorgan (North Dakota), Klobuchar (Minnesota) and Udall (Colorado) are signed into law.
Iowa Gov. Culver has written to his state’s congressional delegation urging their support, and Sens. Harkin and Grassley are indicating they’re on board. Here, however, Gov. Rounds and Sen. Thune have not yet expressed strong support for this key federal renewable energy legislation. It’s time to step up – for the good of South Dakota’s economy and job creation, as well as for everyone’s better health and the environment.
Third, Iowa’s governors have targeted the wind power sector as a leading industrial growth opportunity. The state’s Department of Economic Development has aggressively recruited and used its economic tools to bring several new manufacturing plants to Iowa in addition to the 40-plus wind farms. For example, Trinity Structural Towers is manufacturing wind power towers and creating new green jobs at a former Maytag appliance plant in Newton, Iowa.
Rounds has prioritized the ill-fated Big Stone II coal plant and the proposed Hyperion oil refinery for which the economic viability is a big question mark.
The new South Dakota Wind Energy Association can help to shift these priorities for the future. The Public Utilities Commission should help advance more strategic wind power development approaches – both for large wind projects and for smaller community-sized and on-farm systems.
Wind power is the fastest growing energy resource in the world. Many states and countries are competing hard to gain leadership in the growing clean energy technology market. Smart policies and targeted priorities can make a difference for South Dakota’s ability to capture the clean energy jobs of the future in the growing clean tech economy.
It’s time for South Dakota’s next governor and the full congressional delegation to prioritize and actively seize policy opportunities to spur progress.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Des Moines Register - December 10, 2008
Guest Column by Howard A. Learner
Solving our global-warming problems is the moral, economic, policy, political and technological challenge of our times. Fortunately, there are smart, clean renewable-energy and energy-efficiency developments and clean-car innovation strategies that are good for the economy, create new green jobs and improve the environment.
The naysayers keep arguing that reducing global-warming pollution is too expensive and too difficult. We’ve heard this refrain before: Seat belts supposedly would dramatically increase the costs of cars, make no safety difference and wouldn’t be used by drivers and riders. Catalytic converters wouldn’t really reduce pollution and would make cars unaffordable. Reducing sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain would cause electric rates to skyrocket and not help the environment very much.
Well, look what happened:
- Seat belts are an incidental car-cost component, have saved many lives, reduced the severity of accidents and lowered insurance costs.
- Catalytic converters have greatly reduced harmful health impacts from dirty air, and lowered health-care costs.
- The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, which set up the cap-and-trade program to reduce sulfur-dioxide pollution from coal plants, triggered a wave of technological advances – as well as simple engineering tweaks and fixes – that have reduced acid rain. Instead of costing the industry’s estimated $2,000 to $3,000 per ton, sulfur-dioxide pollution credits are now trading at just $136 per ton. This pollution-reduction strategy has resulted in demonstrable environmental improvements for our rivers, lakes and forests, and reduced public-health harms.
So when you hear that economic disaster will somehow befall the United States if we step up and act to help solve our global-warming problems, consider the facts, history and American capacity for technological innovation – especially with the right mix of regulatory and financial-market incentives.
Solving global warming may be very painful for the more polluting industries and their workers. But it won’t always be difficult and costly. There will be economic winners, too, in the growing green economy.
Consider the example of lighting-efficiency improvements. Here’s what happens when Americans convert their old incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
CFLs use 75 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs to produce the same amount of illumination, saving us money on electricity bills. They reduce carbon dioxide and other pollution from coal plants, improving our health and environment, and they last seven to 10 times longer.
Replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs will reduce overall electricity demand by about 5 to 6 percent. Since coal plants cause about 40 percent of the region’s global-warming pollution, this one change alone – which saves people money – will reduce overall carbon-dioxide pollution from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
That doesn’t even include the additional economic savings and pollution reductions achieved when businesses, city halls, hospitals, schools, parks and sports facilities install more efficient lighting. Commercial light technologies for offices today are much more energy efficient, with high-tech control systems and ballasts.
Coming to market next are super-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which will last longer and can produce light in any color. LEDs are now marketed as a high-end product, but prices will fall soon.
A quiet market revolution is taking place through sophisticated lighting technologies and more efficient appliances, computers, motors and controls. We’re at a tipping point, as higher energy prices and technological advances kick in.
Lighting technologies alone won’t be nearly enough to solve our global-warming problems. But they are a good start, and point the way toward additional opportunities and innovations for global-warming solutions that are good for the economy.
What’s next? Watch for surviving (we hope!) American automakers to pivot to market plug-in electric hybrids and other clean cars sooner than previously advertised, for breakthroughs in solar energy and for advancements in new, more efficient battery technologies.
It won’t be easy, but we can get going faster and further on global-warming solutions than the naysayers are arguing.
Monday, December 7, 2009
In an op-ed in Prairie Business Magazine, ELPC Government Relations Specialist Mindi Grieve describes the renewable energy opportunities available in the Great Plains. Heartland states have abundant resources to create clean energy from a variety of sources including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and biofuels.
As with any young industry, supportive policies are critical to building up America’s clean energy capacity. In the op-ed, Mindi highlight some of the companies that are creating jobs and income from clean energy in the Midwest and outlines how smart policies can help move renewable energy development forward.
Read the full piece here.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
By: Howard A. Learner
Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center
The confluence of multiple economic and policy factors creates a huge strategic opportunity to advance solar power installations in the Midwest. This window of opportunity will likely be open for about two years while solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices are very low due to excess global supply. Soon after, hoped-for technology curve improvements will reduce module costs and key policy drivers, such as Illinois’ solar procurement legislation, will kick in. Here are the combined factors that are driving today’s solar PV opportunities:
Þ Solar PV module prices have come down to $3 per watt, or less, due to the excess supply in global markets. For several years, solar-friendly policies in Germany, Spain and other countries drove new global manufacturing plant investments to ramp up supply for the expected markets. Germany and Spain shifted their subsidy policies – designed to catalyze markets, not support mature markets – just as ramped up manufacturing came on line. The current excess supply has driven down solar PV panel prices to the lowest level in years.
Þ Solar will find a niche supplying peak power in Midwest electricity markets. Solar is available at peak times when regional power market prices are highest. As the Midwest power market has transformed from vertically-integrated utilities to a wholesale market dominated more by merchant generators and power auction-type processes, prices for generation are increasingly reflect time-of-day and time-of-year. In short, solar energy matches well at pricey peak demand times.
Þ Fairly lush federal subsidies for solar energy through the Investment Tax Credit, loan guarantees and various other tax credits and grants are making a difference. Recent federal energy legislation and the economic stimulus package provide significant price support and investment value for solar projects.
Þ Federal and state policy support for solar energy is making a difference. For example, the Illinois RPS “solar carve-out” in the state’s renewable energy procurement standard will drive a new market for 700 MW – 750 MW of solar power supply in 2015. Net metering standards and interconnection standards in several Midwest states are creating more favorable pricing for distributed solar-generated power. Expanding net metering policies to cover larger projects will boost solar even more.
Þ Solar development is finding a sweet spot with 10 MW – 20 MW projects on former industrial sites with nearby substations. These projects are large enough to achieve economies of scale on module purchases and installation costs. Locating systems on older industrial sites provides ready low-cost access to transmission substations in open areas with little blockages to sunlight. In some cases, brownfield redevelopment, recovery bonds and other tax credits and subsidies are available. In addition to SunPower’s 10 MW solar project on the old U.S. Steel site on the South Side of Chicago, there are at least three more developers seeking to move forward with 10 MW – 20 MW solar projects in Illinois. These solar projects are big enough to obtain economies of scale, but small enough to fit onto the transmission grid as well as provide grid support when needed most.
Þ Skilled electrical and other workers are available in the current economic downturn for solar installation “green jobs.” With the 10 MW – 20 MW projects, there is enough volume to bring down the per panel installation costs and, thereby, improve the overall economic robustness of projects. Moreover, in some cases, various federal and state job creation grants, subsidies and credits are available, as are federal job training programs directed to new “green jobs.” Because of the excess worldwide manufacturing capacity, the solar green jobs opportunities are predominantly installation jobs, rather than new manufacturing jobs in the Midwest. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is (re-) training new skilled solar installers at facilities in Illinois, Indiana and other states.
Þ Solar intensity in the Midwest is better than that of both Germany and Japan, the world’s largest solar markets. All right, Illinois and Nebraska are not the same as Arizona and Nevada, but there are some good solar sites here.
Þ New state policies can provide continued support for solar expansion as module prices increase after about two years when there is less excess supply. The Environmental Law & Policy Center and our colleagues are advocating a new ramp-up in 2010 – 2014 prior to the 700 MW – 750 MW Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) solar carve out now set to begin in Illinois in 2015. We are working on feed-in tariff models in Michigan and with colleagues in Iowa to improve the state’s net metering policies. As Wisconsin considers boosting its RPS in 2010, there may also be opportunities to include solar provisions. We have a two-year window of opportunity to gain solar policy improvements as the unusually low module prices, combined with federal economic stimulus incentives, can drive significant new development.
Solar PV is primed for take-off in the Midwest, and especially in Illinois. Let’s seize these strategic opportunities and move forward with solar power development that creates new jobs, spurs economic growth and helps to solve our global warming pollution problems.
Howard A. Learner is the executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Midwest’s leading environmental and economic development advocacy organization. www.elpc.org and www.globalwarmingsolutions.org
Friday, August 21, 2009
Des Moines Register August 21, 2009
Guest Column by Howard A. Learner
The world has changed. Just a few years ago, many people thought that high-speed rail development here was just a dream. Now, it’s moving to reality. President Barack Obama has made high-speed rail development his No. 1 national transportation priority 50 years after President Dwight Eisenhower advanced the build-out of the nation’s interstate highway system.
On July 27, eight Midwest governors signed a memorandum of understanding, committing to combine regional and state planning and development work, prioritize corridor build-outs and coordinate applications for federal funding. There is a new bipartisan Midwest Congressional High-Speed Rail Caucus. The Iowa City-Quad Cities-Chicago rail line is gaining support and momentum, setting the stage for an extension to Des Moines.
This structural transformation of our transportation system will improve mobility with a new, fast, comfortable and convenient transportation option. It will create jobs and spur economic growth by pulling together the regional economy. It will protect our environment through less pollution, reducing congestion and counteracting sprawl by pulling jobs, people and businesses downtown into our central cities.
There is broad national support for high-speed rail development. Forty states have proposed 278 projects seeking $102 billion in federal funding. In addition to the $8 billion in federal economic-stimulus funding, the House has now appropriated $4 billion more for fiscal year 2010 and has proposed $50 billion in the federal transportation reauthorization legislation.
Here’s how Midwest high-speed rail can succeed:
- First, as Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo urges, we need “one region, one voice.” We should support a regional vision of a vibrant Midwest tied together by high-speed rail connections. Midwest governors are working together in coordinating their state plans and federal funding bids. The rest of us should support this vision and this cooperation.
- Second, let’s not let perfection stand in the way of progress. The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative’s ultimate vision includes 3,000 miles of passenger rail serving 65 million people in nine Midwest states. With a vision this ambitious and complex, there will be details that are less than perfect. Let’s not permit controversies over particular stations, routes or speeds stand in the way of a united front and overall progress.
- Third, the Federal Railroad Administration’s rules for the federal economic-stimulus funding competitive bids make clear that this isn’t only about trains. This is about mobility. This is about job creation. This is about economic development, growth and revitalization. This is about livable communities, less pollution and a better environment.
In moving to realize this big vision, let’s also focus on synergies to make these rail investments succeed. Let’s invest in train stations, as Milwaukee, St. Louis and St. Paul are doing. Let’s bolster transit, bus, taxi and airline connections so that rail stations can serve as truly intermodal hubs of economic activity. Let’s creatively build up vibrant communities around train stations. Let’s rebuild the rail manufacturing industry, and expand use of cleaner biofuels as Govs. Chet Culver and Pat Quinn are discussing.
Working together, we can create a win-win-win for our region: good for jobs and our economy, good for the environment, and good for people and our communities. Let’s get on board together and advance smart Midwest high-speed rail development on a fast track.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Huffington Post
November 17, 2008
Opinion Editorial by Howard A. Learner
It’s time to gear up to seize the opportunities to advance a greener economy and cleaner environment with the new Administration and new Congress. The Midwest and Great Plains states can become business and economic winners in growing the new green economy as discussed in previous blog posts. Moreover, when it comes to public policy changes, the nation’s Heartland is also a linchpin to reform.
Twelve Midwest and Great Plains states contain many of the key swing United States Senators and Representatives. They will have a disproportionate role in determining whether national global warming legislation is strong or weak. We live and work in the most pivotal region in the most important country in the world when it comes to solving our global warming problems. Clean energy development is an important global warming solution in these key swing states. Here are some policy changes that should be achieved by the new Obama Administration and new Congress:
Put America on a leadership path for solving global warming problems: the moral, business, economic, policy, political and technology challenge of our generation. It’s time for Congress to enact strong federal legislation to reduce global warming pollution and provide stronger incentives for clean energy development solutions.
National policies to significantly boost energy efficiency standards. In a tight economy, we really can’t afford to waste energy and pass up energy cost savings. Energy efficiency is the best, fastest and cheapest way to reduce global warming pollution. It makes even more sense to save energy dollars and avoid pollution when household budgets are tight and businesses’ bottom lines are suffering.
Enact a national Renewable Energy Standard policy that ramps up wind and solar power, and other clean energy to be 10% of the nation’s energy supply by 2012 and 25% by 2025. This is a win-win-win: stimulating our stalled economy through development in both urban and rural communities, creating new green jobs, and improving environmental quality for everyone. Let’s end the partisan filibustering that has held back wind and solar power and, instead, achieve consistent and strong federal policy support.
Invest in transit and high-speed rail. The federal surface transportation program guides more than $70 billion each year, and it will be reauthorized in 2009-2010. President-elect Obama is calling for a national infrastructure reinvestment bank to invest in, among other things, high-speed rail. The stars are aligning for a fundamental shift toward transportation investments, especially transit and high-speed rail, which increase mobility while reducing global warming pollution.
Let’s not kid ourselves; achieving this agenda won’t be easy. Ideological opponents are seizing on our country’s economic crisis as a reason to put off action. But the scientists tell us that we must start now to seriously reduce global warming pollution. We can’t just hit the “pause” button and hold off on corrective actions until the economy gets better. Besides, energy efficiency saves us money, and clean energy solutions can create jobs and grow the green economy.
Watch what’s happening with American automakers pivoting to market plug-in electric hybrids and other clean cars sooner than previously advertised, accelerated deployment of clean wind power, technological breakthroughs with solar energy, advancements in new, more efficient battery technologies, and a lot more energy efficient homes, businesses and public buildings.
American technological innovation and leadership is focusing on cleaner energy and cleaner car technologies that can provide environmental solutions that can create the jobs of the future and grow the greener economy of the future. Let’s gear up to achieve positive change for America’s environment and greener economy.
Howard A. Learner is the executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Midwest’s leading environmental and economic development advocacy organization. www.elpc.org and www.globalwarmingsolutions.org
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Janesville Gazette- Opinion Editorial by Howard Learner
Wisconsin is well-positioned to be a center of the rapidly growing green economy if we seize the strategic opportunities.
That requires taking savvy policy actions and using business development strategies now before other states leap far ahead. What’s at stake: jobs of the future as the global economy transitions to cleaner and greener technologies.
Solving global warming problems is the challenge of our generation. The leading presidential candidates and Congress are moving toward realigning our nation to achieve rapid, enormous reductions in greenhouse gas pollution. Cleaning up the energy sector is a necessary solution in a “carbon capped” economy.
–Energy efficiency: Making our homes, businesses and public buildings more energy efficient is a no-brainer. It’s a win-win-win for jobs, economic vitality and environmental protection. Retrofitting buildings with more efficient lighting, heating and cooling, windows and other equipment will create new electrical, plumbing, carpentry and other construction jobs that pay good wages.
Energy efficiency holds down utility bills and thus helps businesses’ bottom lines and household budgets. It plugs the billion-dollar drain away from Wisconsin’s economy to states and foreign countries that produce natural gas and coal. Reducing energy demand through efficiency is the best, fastest and cheapest way to avoid global warming pollution.
Wisconsin has been a leader in energy efficiency through its Focus on Energy program, but huge potential efficiency savings remain on the table. Let’s cut this energy waste through efficiency improvements.
Green business winners include Johnson Controls, Andersen Windows and the skilled union trade workers performing energy-efficiency upgrades in commercial and public buildings. This green business sector can grow Wisconsin’s economy as it reduces pollution and helps reduce energy bills, which increases competitiveness.
–Wind power: This is our nation’s fastest-growing energy resource. Two new wind projects are near completion in the Lake Winnebago area, and 800 megawatts more are under development statewide. Wind power benefits people throughout Wisconsin: from new jobs in rural counties to cleaner air in Janesville, Madison and Milwaukee.
Wisconsin is well-positioned to be a manufacturing center for the wind industry. Tower Tech, based in Manitowoc, is producing the 300-foot towers for today’s modern wind turbines. But much of the wind power component manufacturing is going to Iowa and North Dakota, where new plants provide good-paying jobs for skilled workers. Wisconsin has longstanding manufacturing strengths in steel fabrication, castings and gears, and should engage in the wind industry supply chain.
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton is famously said to have replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” Lots of jobs and money are at stake in the emerging green economy. As wind power booms across the Upper Midwest, wind component manufacturers are increasingly locating nearby instates that adopt supportive policies and to reduce transportation costs and ease logistics between their heavy-equipment factories and the wind-power generation sites.
As we mark Earth Day, let’s seize these strategic opportunities and Wisconsin’s competitive advantages to be a center of the growing green economy of the future.
