By GreenBiz Staff
Published December 9, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- A new plan for reviving and strengthening the U.S. economy calls for an investment of $500 billion over 10 years on a range of energy, education, construction, building and manufacturing programs that would create 5 million jobs.
The New Apollo Program is the creation of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor, environmental and community leaders promoting clean energy, energy efficiency and green jobs.
The five sections of the program include numerous recommendations, ranging from expanding and continuing existing programs to developing new funds and systems for cutting carbon. An underlying theme throughout the plan is improving conditions in the U.S. though better infrastructure, education and good jobs.
Rebuild America Clean and Green
The Alliance calls for a national commitment to reduce energy use in new and existing buildings by at least 30 percent by 2025. A proposed Energy Smart Fund would funnel grants to state and local entities to provide energy services and financing.
The plan also includes producing 25 percent of the country's power from renewable and recycled energy sources by 2025, and improving the energy efficiency of existing power plants and industries by 20 percent - primarily through combined heat and power systems - by that same year.
Additional measures include connecting neighborhoods and cities with improved transit systems, enhancing transportation infrastructure by first fixing it instead of expanding it, using smart grid technology to manage power better, extending tax credits related to renewable energy and investing in carbon capture and storage.
Make It in America
As the market for renewable power and alternative vehicles increases, more jobs will be needed to build and maintain new energy systems. Manufacturing in the U.S. will create jobs and increase our energy security, the Alliance argues.
To do that, the federal government needs to provide funding for the auto industry to retool manufacturing plants and create highly-efficient vehicles, The New Apollo Program says. It also calls for consumer rebates and incentives to help people purchase efficient vehicles and tax credits for fueling stations to expand the availability of cellulosic ethanol, sustainably-produced biodiesel and other low-carbon fuels.
Restore America's Technological Leadership
In 1979, public investment in energy-related research and development was at $7.8 billion in today's dollars. Now it's at $4 billion.
The New Apollo Program recommends doubling the national investment in clean tech R&D, with a focus on advanced energy storage systems for improved grid management, smart grid technologies to reduce peak energy demand, nanotechnology and advanced materials science for new solar cells and ultra-light wind-turbines, the widespread introduction of plug-in hybrid vehicles, and advanced cellulosic ethanol and sustainable biodiesel production.
A National Energy Innovation Fund would invest in the most promising technologies coming out of the U.S.
Tap the Productivity of the American People
To achieve all of the above, the U.S. is going to need people making solar panels, installing wind turbines, monitoring the grid, maintaining electric cars and researching new fuels.
To achieve that, the Alliance says the U.S. should expand the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Workforce Training Program created in last year's energy bill, provide funding specifically for providing green career training for people living in poverty, double federal support for national service programs and award 100,000 Clean Energy Tomorrow scholarships each year to students pursuing undergraduate degrees in science, math or engineering.
Reinvest in America
Lastly, to help fund many of the new efforts, the program includes a federal "cap and invest" system that would create a cap on carbon emissions, allow allowances to be traded and invest proceeds back into energy efficiency, renewables, transit, transportation and green jobs programs
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Report: Stimulus plan could be $1 trillion
Washington -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is considering a far bigger economic stimulus plan than before as job losses mount and the economy deteriorates, sources say.
Obama aides and advisers now see $600 billion spent on stimulus measures over a two-year period as "a very low-end estimate," with a final number likely to be between $700 billion and $1 trillion, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
The U.S. unemployment rate is expected to hit 9 percent soon without aggressive intervention, officials say. That has prompted Obama's transition team to think bigger on a stimulus plan, with sources saying his economists have staked out $600 billion in the first year and $300 billion to $600 billion in the second, depending on economic conditions in 2010.
Transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter told the Journal that no decisions have been made on the size of the stimulus plan, saying, "Any speculation on size or scope is premature at this time."
Copyright 2008 by United Press International.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY
Getty Images file
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles took the spotlight at July's Plug-In Conference and
Exposition in San Jose, Calif. How much will plug-ins change the energy game?
If the plans being laid for the economy and the environment work out the way President-elect Barack Obama's advisers hope they do, the future of energy can be summed up in one word: electricity.
That one word covers a lot of policy twists, however: What will the economic downturn mean for initiatives to cut down on greenhouse-gas emissions? What will the recent drop in gasoline prices mean for efforts to boost alternatives to fossil fuels? Can the electrical grid handle increased demand? How do you smooth out the highs and lows of power generation? Where will all that power come from?
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has repeatedly cited a catalog of challenges for future energy policy, ranging from the global supply-and-demand imbalance to climate change and the threat from "petro-dictatorships." Some people might look at that list and conclude that "we're cooked ... we're completely fried," Friedman said during a conference sponsored last week by the Center for American Progress, Washington's most Obama-centric think tank.
"That's one way to look at that list," Friedman continued. "I look at it the way John Gardner looked at a similar list - and he said, 'That list? That's a list of incredible opportunities masquerading as insoluble problems.'"
That reflects the thinking of Obama's top advisers on energy and environmental policy, who would make "green infrastructure" a top target for next year's economic stimulus. Based on statements made during the campaign as well as afterward, they see energy innovation as a key economic driver as well as a way out of the climate-change mess. full story
Iceland harnesses green energy for heat, power
By Jon Frankel
Reporter
CNBC
Reykjavik, Iceland - Imagine an entire nation dependent on something other than oil for its energy. It's cheap. There's plenty of it. And it means never worrying about instability half a world away.
But to find it, you have to go to Iceland — a country better known for its glaciers and booming fishing industry than leading the world in energy.
Here, it's all about hydrogen and geothermal technology.full story
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Fun Quizzes for Greens and Not-So-Greens Alike
How Well Do You Know Your Planet?Take Our Odd Earth Facts Environmental Quiz and Find Out click here for quiz
Interest is churning for hydroelectric power
HAMILTON, Ohio - Many decades ago, cost-conscious Henry Ford turned to hydroelectric plants to power his car factories like the one by the Great Miami River, near this Cincinnati suburb. That assembly plant is long gone, but the power plant and the technology behind it isn't.
Far from it. The push to get electricity from moving water is only picking up steam.
There is mounting political pressure to get more energy from alternative sources and developers are pushing ambitious projects to exploit America's biggest rivers for power. full story
Monday, December 8, 2008
Latest Photo
December 08, 2008
Washington United States
Greenpeace activists protest at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2008. Activists presented themselves in prison jumpsuits calling for the end to the political persecution of Greenpeace anti-whaling activists, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, who have been detained for 172 days after exposing the embezzlement of whale meat from the taxpayer-funded whaling fleet.
© Greenpeace / Robert Meyers
5 Million Green Jobs: Extend Solar Tax Credit, Bring More Solar Jobs To NY
It might be unlikely that we see any federal energy legislation before the 2008 Presidential Election in November.
But here is more evidence that suggests that extending and increasing tax credits for renewables across the country would have a major benefit not just to the country’s economy and environment, but a real local impact to NYC and NYS as well.
RenewableEnergyWorld.com:
Since many solar energy components are manufactured near the markets the industry serves, extending the ITC would create manufacturing and installation jobs in all 50 states, with California, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington as the states most likely to see the largest economic boost. In some states, the number of jobs could grow as much as 300%or more. click here for more
Where will the green collar jobs Obama promises come from?
By Abby Schultz
MSN Green
Updated: 10/17/2008 2:09:07 PM
Senator Barack Obama talks about adding 5 million new “green-collar” jobs to the U.S. economy in the next 10 years if he’s elected president.
Senator John McCain is less specific, but he too expects his energy and environmental policies would lead to new jobs, and his platform calls for the U.S. to “become a leader in green jobs and green technology.”
No question, the U.S. economy needs more jobs. Some 760,000 jobs have been lost through September this year, a 6.1 percent unemployment rate, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month. But what is a green job and where can an out-of-work employee get one? click here to continue
Friday, December 5, 2008
What Is a Green-Collar Job, Exactly?
Employees of SPG Solar mount a photovoltaic panel onto a steel rack on top of a public school rooftop in Pleasanton, California.
Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
What do presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have in common — aside from the obvious? They all love green-collar jobs. Obama promises to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create 5 million new green-collar jobs. Clinton references the term repeatedly on the trail, and says her energy plan will create millions of new green-collar jobs as well. McCain is less willing to cite numbers, but he too assures campaign audiences that action to decarbonize America's economy will produce "thousands, millions of new jobs in America."
All of which sounds great — we clean up the environment, control global warming and create an entirely new sector of employment while we're at it. Academics have released lots of studies trumpeting the potential for green jobs — one report by the RAND Corporation and University of Tennessee found that click here to continue
Great green careers
Earth friendly jobs aren't just about organic farming and installing solar panels. Meet the carbon traders, eco-bankers and corporate climate strategists shaping the new green economy.
By Michael V. Copeland, senior writer
Sunny days: As many as five million green jobs could be created in the United States over the next decade.
(Fortune) -- Steve Vassallo spends his days looking for the next Steve Jobs. Not for the computer industry, it has its already, but for the clean-tech world in which Vassallo, a venture capitalist, invests. "I haven't found him or her yet," says Vassallo, a principal with Silicon Valley-based Foundation Capital. "They are probably still in their cubicles some place doing their IT job, or in a garage with an idea."
Vassallo, and VCs like him have been pouring money into clean-tech companies in recent years -- $2.2 billion in 2007 -- in the hopes of finding the next leader and the next technology that can transform the biggest industries on the planet, from energy to finance to manufacturing. The opportunity is huge, not just for investors but for those who want to be a part of the green economy vanguard. click here for more info
By Michael V. Copeland, senior writer
Sunny days: As many as five million green jobs could be created in the United States over the next decade.
(Fortune) -- Steve Vassallo spends his days looking for the next Steve Jobs. Not for the computer industry, it has its already, but for the clean-tech world in which Vassallo, a venture capitalist, invests. "I haven't found him or her yet," says Vassallo, a principal with Silicon Valley-based Foundation Capital. "They are probably still in their cubicles some place doing their IT job, or in a garage with an idea."
Vassallo, and VCs like him have been pouring money into clean-tech companies in recent years -- $2.2 billion in 2007 -- in the hopes of finding the next leader and the next technology that can transform the biggest industries on the planet, from energy to finance to manufacturing. The opportunity is huge, not just for investors but for those who want to be a part of the green economy vanguard. click here for more info
Does Green Energy Add 5 Million Jobs? Potent Pitch, but Numbers Are Squishy
By JEFFREY BALL
Calls for a clean-energy system in the U.S. have long met with sticker shock. Now, the cost of making the transition -- hundreds of billions of dollars -- is being touted as a selling point.
President-elect Barack Obama and his energy advisers have been making the case that a multibillion-dollar government investment in everything from wind turbines to a "smart" electrical grid is just what's needed to help revive the economy. The lure is millions of government-subsidized "green jobs."
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama argued that spending $150 billion over the next decade to boost energy efficiency would help create five million jobs. The jobs would include insulation installers, to make houses more energy-efficient, wind-turbine builders, to displace coal-fired electricity, and construction workers, to build greener buildings and upgrade the electrical grid.
The numbers are debated by the Obama advisers themselves, and are likely to spark debate when Congress considers a stimulus package including green jobs. But a big government push, focused on jobs, may represent the best chance in years for renewable energy and energy efficiency to take root in the U.S., a voracious energy consumer. click here for more info
Calls for a clean-energy system in the U.S. have long met with sticker shock. Now, the cost of making the transition -- hundreds of billions of dollars -- is being touted as a selling point.
President-elect Barack Obama and his energy advisers have been making the case that a multibillion-dollar government investment in everything from wind turbines to a "smart" electrical grid is just what's needed to help revive the economy. The lure is millions of government-subsidized "green jobs."
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama argued that spending $150 billion over the next decade to boost energy efficiency would help create five million jobs. The jobs would include insulation installers, to make houses more energy-efficient, wind-turbine builders, to displace coal-fired electricity, and construction workers, to build greener buildings and upgrade the electrical grid.
The numbers are debated by the Obama advisers themselves, and are likely to spark debate when Congress considers a stimulus package including green jobs. But a big government push, focused on jobs, may represent the best chance in years for renewable energy and energy efficiency to take root in the U.S., a voracious energy consumer. click here for more info
New Energy for America
5 Million Green Collar Jobs
A Bold New National Goal on Energy Efficiency
American Energy
Read the New Energy for America plan
Watch Barack's speech in Lansing, MI on his new energy plan:
A Bold New National Goal on Energy Efficiency
American Energy
Read the New Energy for America plan
Watch Barack's speech in Lansing, MI on his new energy plan:
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Obama touts 5 million green jobs in first YouTube address
In an address to the nation via YouTube that is already being compared to Franklin Roosevelt's fireside radio chats, President-elect Barack Obama focuses on the economy saying that despite the challenges he knows the country can dig itself out of the recession. And he pledges $150 billion to build an "American green energy economy" that could create five million new jobs and remove the country's dependence on foreign oil.
The video had attracted more than 500,000 views as of Sunday morning, and is part of Obama's larger strategy of using technology to connect with citizens and make the government more efficient. (However, Th New York Times reports he will most likely have to give up his Blackberry.)
The video had attracted more than 500,000 views as of Sunday morning, and is part of Obama's larger strategy of using technology to connect with citizens and make the government more efficient. (However, Th New York Times reports he will most likely have to give up his Blackberry.)
What are green-collar jobs?
Right now, there’s a great opportunity not only to make America’s economy stronger by making it greener, but to make Americans living in poverty part of a revitalized middle class. The first thing we have to do is provide the training that will turn 20th century blue-collar jobs into secure 21st-century green-collar jobs.
For more background on green-collar jobs and a video on the topic, go here.
For more background on green-collar jobs and a video on the topic, go here.
9.27.08: The Nation Stands Up!
On September 27, 2008, more than 50,000 Americans came together to call for a new green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
From campuses to housing projects, from Native American reservations to Black Churches, nearly 700 communities in all 50 states sent a unified message to our leaders:
"America is ready to build the new economy. We're ready to save people and the planet. We're ready for green jobs now!" click here for more info
How can you go green?
How can you go green?
How do you want to leave this world for the next generations? We only have one world. Protect it, conserve it, do your part to keep our earth clean.
Here are some ways you can help save the environment:
Use energy efficient appliances and light bulbs
Recycle
Use less water—take quicker showers
Properly dispose hazardous materials
Plant a tree
Use canvas or mesh bags (which are reusable) instead plastic or paper bags at the grocery store
Ride your bike, walk, or take public transportation
Teach your children about conservation
Turn off the lights
Skip the dryer, use a clothes line
Pay bills online and enroll in paperless statements
Consume less, share more
For more click here
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