To begin, I thought it might be helpful to take a look at what exactly has been promised by the Obama administration regarding environmental and energy policy. The detailed breakdown can be found here.
The administration's plan is called "New Energy for America" and focuses on job creation through clean energy. The plan promises to:
- Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
- Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
- Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
- Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
- Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
According to Keith Johnson of the Wall Street Journal, "Renewable energy is especially vulnerable to the credit crunch, because most of the cost of wind farms and the like comes from upfront capital costs; the fuel is free." This, coupled with falling costs of non-renewables have left green energy initiatives in a dire situation:
- Tight credit and falling prices of photovoltaic cells have left the solar sector in serious trouble, and analysts claim nearly 3/4 of solar energy companies could fail in the near future.
- Unable to compete with falling natural gas prices, wind power projects are likely to take a big hit. Plans for the world's largest wind farm have already been put on hold, possibly for good.
- With State budgets wearing thin, fewer public projects will spend the extra money needed to achieve energy efficiency standards of LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
- Current EU emission reduction standards (20-30% by 2020) targetted to combat climate change are being second guessed by several member nations. European nations have long since been leaders in environmental reform, and this throttling back by several countries does not bode well for Obama's emission reduction resolve.
According to a Time magazine article, a top Administration official sees the economic downturn as fertile soil for maintaining the environmental agenda, specifically in the green job sector: "The existence of a large pool of unemployed people creates, as close as economics ever has, the possibility of a free lunch for economic policy, because it means you can get more stuff by putting people to work."
And so it seems, there is silver (or should I say green) lining within our daunting situation. What will direct our environmental course seems to hinge upon the success of non-renewable industries (perhaps via consolidation or government subsidation) as well as the administration's resolve to mold job creation specifically around green initiatives.
I pray these tough times don't allow us to forget the thing that unites us all--our one and only Mother Earth. Let's see what happens.
With green thumbs crossed,
Dan
