Our reliance on dirty energy is fueling global warming,
harming our health, threatening our security and stalling our economy. Burning
coal, oil and gas for energy and transportation is responsible for 80 percent
of U.S. global warming pollution and most of our smog and soot pollution.
We can protect our environment and strengthen our economy by
investing in clean energy and green infrastructure. A green economic recovery
plan would mean less global warming pollution, fewer asthma attacks from air
pollution, more clean lakes and rivers for drinking water, swimming and
fishing, more secure energy in the long term, and more jobs than investing in
the dirty energy technologies of the past.
President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to make clean energy
and green infrastructure a cornerstone of America's economic recovery. In his
first radio address of 2009, the president-elect said "to put people back
to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double
renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more
energy efficient."
This report provides specific recommendations in support of
the president-elect's efforts to ensure a green economic recovery and estimates
the environmental benefits of those recommendations.
These proposals, when fully implemented over the next
decade, would reduce annual global warming pollution by nearly 10 percent below
current levels and reduce oil consumption equivalent to taking one million cars
off the road each year. These proposals would begin to transition America to a
clean energy economy and put more than three million people to work quickly in
ready-to-go projects. This is nearly as many jobs as Obama has called for creating
with the entire stimulus package.
The following measures represent initiatives that will have
the most significant impact in promoting cleaner energy and creating quality
jobs:
RENEWABLE ENERGY
• Ensure effective incentives for clean, renewable energy
• Expand the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds
• Fund the Green Jobs Act
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
• Fund energy efficiency and conservation block grants
• Expand the home weatherization program
• Create a home and commercial building retrofit program
CLEANER TRANSPORTATION
• Fully fund New Starts transit capital projects
• Support transit modernization and rehabilitation
• Increase authorized transit operations and energy
assistance grants
These and other recommended clean energy and green
infrastructure initiatives totaling
$142 billion dollars in federal investment would have
significant environmental and economic impacts:
• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 670 million tons
per year when fully implemented over the next decade, which represents a
reduction of nearly 10 percent of America's current annual global warming
pollution. This represents a significant step towards reducing the nation's
global warming pollution to what scientists say is necessary to avert the worst
impacts of global warming.
• Replace the power equivalent of 170 coal-fired power
plants with renewable energy and energy efficiency. Our proposals to extend the
renewable energy Production Tax Credit and invest in renewable energy on
federal property, among others, would reduce significant global warming
pollution and create hundreds of thousands of new, clean energy jobs.
• Reduce oil consumption by more than 25 million barrels
annually by meeting growing demand for mass transit and cleaner alternatives to
driving. This would be equivalent to taking nearly one million cars off the
road each year. These benefits would increase substantially over time as our
transportation system becomes more and more efficient, rather than more
polluting and congested.
In crafting a green economic recovery package, our leaders
have an unprecedented opportunity on three fronts:
• Putting the nation on a path to avert a global warming
crisis;
• Providing a massive stimulus to the economy and putting
millions of workers to work in quality jobs;
• Invigorating America as we lead the world to a clean
energy future.
An economic recovery package with smart clean energy and
green infrastructure investments can put America on course to save our
environment by rebuilding our economy through creating quality jobs and developing
new industries and technologies.
This report provides a comprehensive set of recommendations
on how to best accomplish a green recovery based on research and analysis from
throughout the environmental community, to include public, private and non-profit
entities. Environmental, employment and fiscal impacts are assessed within each
proposal based on previously conducted studies, in addition to primary and
secondary research.
Renewable Energy
Investment and long-term commitment to renewable energy such
as wind and solar will play a crucial role in repowering America with clean,
homegrown energy. We recommend at least
$62.3 billion in investments in growing renewable energy
sources, installing renewable energy systems in schools and other government buildings,
green job training, and innovative technologies. These investments will help us
face the greatest environmental challenges of our time, and in addition create
or sustain more than 833,000 jobs.
Electricity generation contributes more than one third of
U.S. global warming pollution.4 We have the potential to power the entire
country many times over with clean sources such as wind and solar.
By making smart investments now, expanding incentives for
renewable energy, shifting our own government toward renewable energy, and
funding advanced research and development of new renewable energy technologies,
we can set a course to repower America with 100 percent clean electricity.
Our recommended investments would reduce global warming
emissions in the electricity sector by at least 424.5 million tons a year by
2020,5 equivalent to the global warming pollution of 158 typical coal-fired power
plants.6
We propose the following economic recovery investments:
• Amend renewable energy production and investment tax
credits
• Develop renewable energy on government property
• Increase capacity of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds
• Extend the renewable energy production tax credit
• Fund the Green Jobs Act
• Expand federal Power Purchase Agreements
• Create Energy SmartPARKS
• Adopt a Solar Schools initiative
• Research and development of advanced batteries
• Expand Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Additional investments and policies, such as a renewable
electricity standard, a renewable energy manufacturing tax credit, and solar
rebate could add nearly a million new jobs and help America repower with clean,
homegrown energy.
Funding the Green Jobs Act, for instance, would expand and
improve existing worker training programs as well as replicate them all across
the country. For example, Cincinnati State
Technical and Community College has created a Renewable
Energy major. As part of the program, students earn $10-$14 an hour working for
renewable energy companies. The major prepares students for jobs such as
electronic technicians, product test specialists and electro-mechanics, which
pay a starting salary of $30,000-$42,000.7 Demand for these jobs is high right
now and is expected to grow. Cincinnati State would like to expand enrollment
in the major and invest in on-site training facilities, and the program can
easily be reproduced at community colleges and technical schools all across the
country.
These investments and policies and their associated
environmental and economic benefits are addressed in more detail in the
following narrative and in the appendix attached to this report.
