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.

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

All speakers agreed that tapping South Dakota’s renewable energy potential would benefit the state’s economy and help to address the growing threat of climate change. Mr. Grosboll said that the American Clean Energy and Security Act would be an effective way to reduce carbon pollution and would create over one million clean energy jobs across the country and in South Dakota.

Read coverage in the Rapid City Journal

“There may be a negative impact on the coal industry or on a company that owns a lot of coal plants, and you may hear them howling,” said Learner. “But on the other hand there’s a large number of winners who are creating jobs and that’s a boost to our economy.”

The event was part of the University of Wisconsin’s graduate program in sustainability and was covered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Read the article here

Several of the groups submitted analyses that showed how Iowa will benefit from clean energy legislation through job growth and income in manufacturing, renewable energy and energy efficiency. Others showed that the moderate costs of the bill are miniscule compared to the threat of global climate change.

As ELPC Senior Attorney Rob Kelter said, “There is so much more at stake here than minor changes in electric rates. Clean energy can be a major driver of economic growth in Iowa, but we have to stand up to the utilities to make it happen.”

Read more at Iowapolitics.com

Midwest-focused solutions are critical. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin account for 20% of the nation’s carbon pollution. The Midwest alone is responsible for more global warming pollution than any country, except China, India, Russia and Japan. That’s because the Midwest has the largest concentration of old, dirty coal plants that produce large amounts of carbon dioxide which cause global warming, and because we are the hub of the U.S. transportation industry.

Much of our work focuses on environmental solutions that can dramatically reduce global warming pollution:

CLEANER ENERGY: 32% of our country’s global warming pollution comes from generating electric power. How we produce that power, and how much we generate, has a profound impact on global warming.

• Promoting Farm Energy. Producing energy from biofuels, biogas, wind power, and solar energy can reduce our demand for foreign oil, create jobs in America’s heartland, and reduce carbon pollution.
• Creating Markets for Renewable Energy. Renewable energy resources are the fuel of the future and passage of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) in every Midwestern state is a critical step to building a clean energy future.
• Cleaning Up Dirty Coal Plants. The Midwest still depends on coal-fired power plants for more than 75% of its electrical power. Coal plants are among the dirtiest sources of power. ELPC is working to bring these older plants up to modern pollution control standards.

TRANSPORTATION: Motor vehicles consume almost 75% of the oil we use and produce about 26% of our global warming pollution.

• Promoting High-Speed Rail. Trains are three times as efficient as cars. By promoting fast, frequent rail service, we can reduce our dependence on cars and planes.
• Opposing Wasteful Highway Spending. ELPC partners with local environmental groups to oppose unnecessary highway projects, such as I-69 in Indiana, which promote sprawl and encourage more fuel consumption.
• Advocating Cleaner Cars. ELPC is pleased that under a new federal law, states may choose between two vehicle emissions standards: the federal Clean Air Act standards or the more stringent California standards, which were adopted by 14 states. These standards require fleet-wide reductions of carbon dioxide pollution by 30% – 50% or more by 2016.

GREEN BUILDINGS: Heating, cooling, and lighting buildings is a major source of carbon pollution. That’s why ELPC works to promote green buildings that reduce our demand for fossil fuels.

• Implementing Energy Efficient Building Codes. Doing energy efficiency “right” at the new construction and major rehab stage is by far the most cost-effective time to make these pro-environmental and energy cost reduction investments. ELPC was instrumental in getting a commercial energy efficiency building code passed in Illinois in 2004 and a residential energy efficient building code in Illinois in 2009.

Learn more about global warming and how you can make a difference at GlobalWarmingsolutions.org, our comprehensive website focused on climate change in the Midwest.

We publish one of the Midwest’s most important online information hubs on global warming; visit us at GlobalWarmingSolutions.org.

Call from individuals may be the best way to influence this important vote. Call your legislators today and ask them to vote  yes on the the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

We need your help to raise public awareness and support for this historic bill. After successfully passing the bill in the House of Representatives it is now up to the Senate and President Obama to ensure that the Unites States takes action to solve climate change and adopt a coherent clean energy policy.

If you would like to learn about future volunteer opportunities to help raise support for this historic environmental legislation please contact Katy Hintzen today by calling 773-812-3567 or e-mailing khintzen@elpc.org.

“President Obama is driving automakers to develop cleaner cars and innovative pollution reduction technologies that the public wants,” said Howard A. Learner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Illinois drivers will save more than $500 million per year by using 280 million gallons less of gasoline when these standards take hold.”

The new clean car standards will cut global warming pollution from passenger vehicles by 30 percent by 2016. The transportation sector is the second largest source of global warming pollution nationwide.  Pollution from cars and trucks is also a leading cause of asthma and other public health problems.

Read ELPC’s press release.