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Renewable energy gathers steam: Mayor,
academics, businesses unite behind state bill
Jul 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kristina Peterson Palo Alto Daily News, Calif. SunPower sprung from a Stanford professor's concept for making a better solar panel. After its first 15 years in business, the company had 40 employees. A year later, the company has 300 employees in the Bay Area and 2,000 around the world, Vice President Julie Blunden said. If environmental activists and lawmakers including Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, have their way, other companies in the renewable energy field could experience similar growth spurts if a federal bill becomes law. As early as next week, the U.S. House of Representatives could vote on H.R. 969, a bill that would require at least 20 percent of the nation's energy to come from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2020. Introduced by Reps. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.), the bill is already supported by 127 other congressional members, including Eshoo. In an e-mail Thursday, Eshoo said she is proud to support the bill "because of the high standards it sets for renewable energy." "In California we always set high standards, and now the rest of the country will benefit by the higher standards which this legislation can accomplish," she said. If passed, the bill would establish a national energy trading market so states could swap "renewable electricity credits," said Cliff Chen, energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Berkeley-based activist group. As a whole, the energy use of all 50 states would have to be 20 percent renewable, but states could trade credits to maintain the average, Chen said. "It gives states that have more or less renewable energy the flexibility to still comply by trading with states that have a surplus," he said. The legislation also could energize the economy, creating new jobs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the process. Expanding the renewable energy field could lead to 16,000 new jobs in California and pump up to $14.9 billion into new capital investments, according to a report released Thursday by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The renewable energy field is generally more labor-intensive than the traditional energy field, which could translate into new jobs to manufacture, install and maintain the necessary equipment, according to the report. All of which may entice investors to plunk down their money into the green market, the report states. Blunden called SunPower the "ultimate poster child for how policy spurring investment in technology creates jobs." Renewable energy also can generate revenue for cities and municipal agencies, said Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto. "Instead of sending our dollars out of state or nation for nonrenewable energy, it makes more sense to invest in local, renewable energy sources," she said. Palo Alto gets wind power from Solano County and other renewable energy from local landfill generators, said Karl Knapp, the city's senior resource planner. Stanford professor of biological sciences Stephen Schneider, who is championing H.R. 969, has testified before congressional committees three times in the past three months to advance legislation fighting global warming. Schneider said he is frustrated by subsidies given to conventional energy sources such as oil companies. "We need to level the playing field for renewable energy," he said. E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com . To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.dailynewsgroup.com |