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WASHINGTON, DC, US, September 27, 2006
(Refocus Weekly)
A proposed U.S. law would increase investment in
renewable energies by US$49 billion by 2009 and create 530,000 jobs.
The ‘Clean Energy Development for a Growing Economy (Clean EDGE)
Act of 2006' would set a national Renewable Portfolio Standard to
require 10% of all electricity in the U.S. to come from renewables
by 2020, and require the federal government to increase its use of
green power to 10% of total consumption by 2013. It would require
that half of new vehicles be gas-ethanol capable by 2020, that 10%
of gas stations sell ethanol by 2015, and would establish a Clean
Energy Investment Administration to provide federal loan guarantees
for deployment of clean energy technologies. It would ‘level the
playing field’ for renewables by revoking subsidies for major oil
companies and impose royalties for extracting oil from public lands
which would be used to promote development of clean energy
alternatives.
The proposed Senate legislation would also create 530,000 jobs,
according to the Apollo Alliance and the Economic Policy Institute
in ‘Clean Energy Development for a Growing Economy: Employment
Impacts of the Clean EDGE Act.’ The leiglsation would provide a
broad framework for energy independence and development of the
domestic clean energy industry, and proposes to reduce dependence on
foreign oil by 40%, explains Jerome Ringo of the Apollo Alliance,
while setting a high standard and evoking “the same ‘can do’ spirit
that inspired the original Apollo program to send a man to the
moon.”
The provisions for wind energy in the Clean EDGE Act would create
half of the new jobs, and the majority (251,000) would be in
manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels, and 62,000 in
construction jobs to install systems. Jobs would be created in every
state, with California creating 54,000 and Texas with 38,000.
“A national commitment to develop clean, renewable energy would not
only enhance our security and protect the environment, it could
restore American technological leadership, create jobs, protect our
living standards, and save consumers money,” explain authors Robert
Scott of the Economic Policy Institute and Brian Siu of the Apollo
Alliance. It would “dramatically increase public investment in clean
and renewable energy technologies and create incentives for
increased private spending in these areas. It would yield many
important benefits for the economy including improvements in
environmental quality, reductions in green-house gas emissions,
reduced reliance on imported oil and improvements in the U.S. trade
balance.”
Many workers moving into jobs in renewable energy would be leaving
jobs in other sectors which have lower pay and benefits, and one of
the most important benefits of the Act is that it would improve and
benefits received by hundreds of thousands of workers who move into
new jobs. The estimate includes both direct jobs in the industry
where spending takes place and indirect employment in sectors which
supply parts and materials to that sector, but does not include any
multiplier effects and is “a conservative estimate of the employment
impacts of this legislation.”
While wind would account for half of projected investments, hybrid
and advanced diesel vehicles, biomass and solar would have 9% to 11%
each, with lower amounts for other technologies and activities.
Spending would ramp up quickly and be sustained at high levels
between 2007 and 2011.
“The Clean EDGE Act would bring about a significant increase in the
production of energy from renewable and alternative sources and the
production of high-efficiency vehicles and other products,” the
report concludes. “The development of renewable and alternative
energy sources and more efficient vehicles would generate many long
run benefits for the economy in terms of increased production of
renewable and alternative energy supplies, reduced energy
consumption and improvements in the environment.”
Estimated federal and private spending for wind energy would be
$23.1 billion in 2007 and rise to$23.5 billion by 2011, while solar
energy would go from $4.9 to $4.6 billion during that time, as
geothermal goes from $2.8 to $2.8 and biomass goes from $4.1 to $4.2
billion. Wind energy would create 244,654 jobs (46.1%), solar would
be 43,798 (8.2%), geothermal 33,993 (6.4%) and biomass 47,693
(9.0%).
The Clean EDGE Act extends the $.019/kWh production tax credit
through 2014, and this incentive “continues to be crucial to clean
energy development, particularly for wind,” it notes. Based on
current growth patterns, the study assumes that an extension would
stimulate an additional 3,000 MW of turbine capacity per year, at a
cost of $3 billion annually.
It also provides an extension for the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds
program, initially established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 with
$800 million in bond finance for tax exempt utilities, but the Act
would extend the program through 2013 and, each year, provide $800
million for renewable energy development.
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