Move over Renewable Energy, the Republicans are back.
Cap-and-Trade is dead even though it was originally a Republican idea. Rather than adding new carbon taxes, cap-and-trade uses the free market to trade emission credits, but even that is now viewed as a "tax." If there’s any chance for a Renewable Energy Standard, it will likely be broadened to a Clean Energy Standard, which includes nuclear and carbon sequestration from coal. Its goal would change from encouraging the growth of renewable energy to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through all available sources. That would be a "net negative" for renewable energy.
In a post-election news conference, President Obama said there could be opportunities to increase natural gas production and build nuclear plants, both of which are favored by the GOP. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and a champion for addressing climate change and environmental concerns, is thinking a lot smaller about what Congress can accomplish. She’s looking at applying clean energy incentives through the tax code and a possible program where landlords could get loans to retrofit apartment and office complexes.
But Thomas Pyle of the free-market Institute for Energy Research thinks there will be two years of hopeless wrangling over these issues.
One thing’s for sure: a top priority for Republicans and some coal-state Democrats is to block the EPA from regulating carbon emissions. Even before the new Congress begins in January, Republicans could delay EPA action by including language in a short-term spending bill which would fund the government through February. Next year, they could attach language to longer-term bills. It would be hard for Obama to veto because it would shut down the government. And Republicans will press for more offshore oil drilling, especially in Alaska, both offshore and onshore in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR).
Boxer says her job will shift to largely playing defense. "We’ve got to protect the EPA," she says, "to make sure they continue going after big polluters, including big carbon polluters. It will be contentious, but I think it’s very healthy for the American people to see the debate unfold."
Could the debate unfold a bit differently this time?
The new US Congress is strongly tilted toward climate change skeptics. A Pew Research Center poll shows 53% of Republicans and 70% of Tea Party Republicans find no evidence for climate change, compared to almost 80% of Democrats and a majority of independents who say there’s solid evidence of global warming.
97% of climate scientists concur, however, that climate change is a fact and, for the first time, hundreds are teaming up to regain control of climate science messaging. The leading climate change organization, the American Geophysical Union, is launching a Web service that provides journalists accurate scientific information about climate change. The project, which will be staffed by about 700 volunteers, will attempt to translate complex climate science into terms people can understand.
In a separate effort, scientists are recruiting colleagues for 2020 Rapid Response Teams. They will be deployed to any city, state or institution that makes a commitment to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2020 and develop sustainable lifestyles and economies. Teams will help local leaders assess and reduce carbon footprints while creating jobs, and will synergize their efforts with counterparts nationally and internationally.
Then there’s the R20 coalition – dozens of state, regional governments and NGOs have signed a founding charter to advance low-carbon projects together. Charter members are mostly from North America, Europe, Mexico and Africa.
A letter is circulating calling for leaders in climate science, social science, economics and public health, to form an independent, non-partisan initiative – to do what? To ensure that reliable scientific evidence is made relevant and useful to decision-makers at every level, including community leaders, business leaders and the general public. They will also debunk efforts to misrepresent the scientific consensus. The letter urges the scientific community to lend its full support to the initiative and thereby re-assert its role as the trusted broker of unbiased information that people on all sides of the issue can rely on.
Lastly, 56 faith-based organizations sent a joint letter calling on the U.S. Senate to leave the EPA’s power in tact to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, including ozone emissions (smog).
The letter, which includes messages from the world’s major faiths, begins: "As communities and people of faith, we are called to protect and serve God’s great Creation and work for justice for all of God’s people. We believe that the United States must take all appropriate and available actions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change; we therefore urge you to oppose any efforts to undermine the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. We have seen various challenges to the CAA this session including Senator Rockefeller’s proposal to delay regulation of greenhouse gases under the Environmental Protection Agency. We urge you to protect the Clean Air Act and allow the EPA to use the full strength of the law to ensure that God’s Creation and God’s children remain healthy."
Green Business Becoming Economic Engine
The nonprofit Next 10 and Collaborative Economics report that green manufacturing jobs in California grew 19% between 1995-2008, when overall manufacturing jobs there tumbled 9%. In the first half of 2010, California green business attracted almost $3 billion in venture capital. California is the top state for green technology patents with 450 patent registrations from 2007-2009 for solar, wind and advanced battery technologies.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration released a report "Measuring the Green Economy" – a first step toward measuring the size and composition of the emerging green economy and the number of green jobs it’s created. The report is based on the 2007 Economic Census and finds that green products and services contributed 1-2% of US GDP, with revenues between $370-$516 billion in 2007. That year, there were 1.8 – 2.4 million green jobs, mostly in green services, not manufacturing. Energy efficiency, resource conservation and pollution control accounted for 80-90% of employment and revenue.
As further evidence that green business is becoming an economic engine, the launch of the first electric cars this year is already rippling beyond car manufacturers. In preparation for EVs, NRG Energy established a $10 million partnership of more than a dozen companies to create a charging station infrastructure in Houston, TX. The "eVgo" program will place chargers along major freeways, shopping and business districts, popular retailers and in community areas within 25 miles of the city center.
Washington State’s Dept of Transportation is using a $1.32 million federal grant to turn Interstate 5 into the nation’s first "electric highway." There will be enough charging stations for EVs to travel the 276 miles from the Canadian border to the Oregon state line.
General Electric is introducing the GE WattStation in 2011, grid-compatible EV charger, which allows for "uncomplicated integration of quick EV charging into peoples’ everyday activities," says the company. Designed to be used at home, it decreases charging time from 12-18 hours to 4-8 hours while hooking people up to the smart grid – where utilities can manage the impact of electric vehicles on local and regional grids. GE Capital will offer financing and is partnering with ServiceMagic to provide certified electricians that can install WattStations in homes.
Meanwhile, Volvo is working with London’s Imperial College in London to create a composite material that can turn a car’s body panels into an energy source. In three years, Volvo thinks they’ll convert a vehicle’s spare wheel recess into a composite battery, and within a decade, they could commercially produce the material for roofs and dashboards.
These are just a few examples of positive momentum building toward a green economy if Republicans aren’t able to unravel it. On the negative side, we’ve already seen some of the world’s largest solar and wind firms cut back on their commitment to the US because of our inability to pass energy and climate legislation.
The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and North Dakota Farmers Union enrolled 8,000 producers on 11 million acres of land in a program that pays them for not tilling their land, among other carbon sequestration methods. The program demonstrates that farmers can profit by earning and selling carbon credits to buyers that need to reduce their carbon footprint. Those programs are shutting down now and farmers will return to plowing their land.
The big question is, how can we overcome partisan politics and special interests, which are still intervening against society’s best interests?
Whether it’s climate change, peak oil, energy security, keeping the billions we spend on oil at home to grow our own economy, or competing with the likes of China for leadership in new industries, such as wind and solar, everyone can find a reason to support moving to a carbon neutral society.
It’s comforting that so many segments of society – and for the first time, the scientists themselves – are mobilizing to defend the transition to a green economy. But that’s just about convincing people that we must act against the looming threat of climate change.
The flip side is even more important – we must find a way to help people see, taste, feel the promise of a clean energy-based society. Only when individuals, businesses and politicians get excited about the future -and see it as in their best interest – we will be able to stop haggling and start progressing. The missing link continues to be a lack of a positive, compelling vision that we’re all working toward – a healthy, stable society that people can buy into and feel inspired by.
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Rona Fried, Ph.D. is president and founder of SustainableBusiness.com.
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