A call to end clean energy's politicization

Sep 27 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dana Hull San Jose Mercury News

 

With the election fast approaching, national security and clean-energy business leaders called for American politicians to stop treating clean energy "like a political football" and start treating it like an industry.

"The military gets it. Investors get it. The American people get it," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, who serves as president of ACORE, the American Council on Renewable Energy. "We need to make sure the people we elect to higher office get it."

McGinn's comments were made to journalists gathered at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum-West, a two-day conference that continues Friday in San Francisco. McGinn was joined by Dan Adler of the California Clean Energy Fund, Martin Lagod of Firelake Capital and Nancy Hartsoch of SolFocus, a San Jose-based solar manufacturer.

The group did not advocate for a particular presidential candidate, or spell out a wish list of energy policy priorities. Instead, participants stressed that the clean-energy economy is growing, creating jobs across the nation and attracting real dollars from a widening pool of investors. And they said that while the failures and struggles of some high-profile companies get a lot of attention, the story of cleantech is fundamentally sound.

"Clean energy is being treated by some as a political football," said McGinn. "You just have to hear the word 'Solyndra' in

Washington and you'll get what I mean."

Lagod, of Firelake Capital, said energy is a "trillion-dollar market" and noted that many of the jobs in the solar industry come not from manufacturing, but installation.

"Solar costs have come down significantly, and many of the solar modules are made in China," Lagod said. "The big job creator comes from deployment: it's construction workers and electricians. Making solar panels is not a big job creator."

Lagod's firm has invested in solar manufacturers like MiaSole and Nanosolar as well as installers like Sungevity.

McGinn said the U.S. military is at the forefront of institutional support for renewable energy, from experimenting with advanced biofuels to building bases that are "net zero" in terms of energy use.

He said that in his travels around the country, he's struck by how much American people understand the hidden costs associated with the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

"Everybody loves electricity," said McGinn. "But no one wants to live five miles downwind from a coal-fired power plant."

Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.

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