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OAKLAND, California, US, 2004-10-20 (Refocus Weekly) Comprehensive new policies on ‘smart energy’ would create 1.4 million new jobs by 2025 while lowering energy bills by US$170 billion each year, according to the Redefining Progress think tank.
A coalition of labour and environmental groups have supported the report, ‘Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger: Secure Jobs, a Clean Environment, and Less Foreign Oil,’ that details the economic benefits from energy policies which stimulate clean energy technologies on a national and a state-by-state basis.
“Producing 20% of our electricity with renewable energy by 2020 will create good jobs and save consumers money while reducing our growing dependence on energy imports from politically unstable regions around the world,” says Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It's time to switch from the polluting energy resources of the past to the advanced clean energy technologies of the future. The technologies we need are available today. All it takes is the political will.”
The report has also been endorsed by the United Steelworkers, Sierra Club, Service Employees International Union, Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups. It explains that the U.S. could reduce oil imports by 1.7 billion barrels a year, and increase annual GDP by $123 billion in 2025.
If the policies suggested in the package were adopted, the U.S. would cut in half the amount of greenhouse gases that will be emitted under a ‘business as usual’ approach, it explains.
“It's time to explode the myth that you can't create high-paying jobs, and protect the environment at the same time - that's a false choice,” says Dave Foster of the United Steelworkers. “You can design policies that are good for the environment while creating competitive new jobs, and this new report illustrates how to do that now.”
“Our report suggests that there is a smart way and a not-so-smart way to approach energy policies,” explains co-author Andrew Hoerner. “With the right approach, the interests of working families and the environment come together. And with the right approach we can create more job security, more energy security and more national security. Smarter policies lead to a cleaner and stronger America.”
The policy package recommends that the U.S. “Accelerate the implementation of existing clean, energy-efficient technologies; stimulate the development of renewable domestic energy sources; and promote research and development on efficient
new technologies.” The plan would increase green power generation by 1% per year, with a doubling of federal research and a “modest permit fee” on the emission of global warming pollution to provide an efficient market incentive for a cleaner environment.
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