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Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 | 3:45 p.m.
A new report from the Center for American Progress says $100 billion in green investment could create 2 million jobs in the U.S., including 15,000 in Nevada.
"In a time when people are hurting, 15,000 jobs seems like a good idea," said Scot Rutledge of the Nevada Conservation League.
The $100 billion "green economic recovery program" - about the size of the recent federal stimulus package - could be paid for by auctioning the right to emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, according to the center.
The report says $865 million of that $100 billion would be invested in Nevada. That figure is based on contribution to gross domestic product and population. When natural renewable energy resources and existing favorable state policy toward renewables are factored in, environmentalist said, the investment here is likely to be much higher.
Union leaders, environmentalists and business representatives touted the plan under the shade of solar panels at the Springs Preserve on Tuesday.
Lydia Ball, a regional representative of the Sierra Club, said she's often asked whether the economy or the environment takes precedence.
"It's both," she said. "We need to put Americans back to work and we need to address climate change, and we can do both."
Robert Buntjer, assistant director of an apprenticeship program for electrical workers unions in Las Vegas, called the predicted $865 million in investment in all things green in Nevada the "huge shot in the arm we need... for the Nevada construction economy."
The unions have had a training program for solar photo voltaic installers in Las Vegas since 2003. Their training facility already has solar panels installed for trainees to practice on, and will soon have a wind turbine thanks to a variance from the city, Buntjer said.
Les Lazareck, owners of Home Energy Connections, said the largest part of the $865 million investment in Nevada would go to conservation efforts.
Lazareck said improving insulation in homes could reduce the energy use by Nevada's 700,000 homes by 30 percent.
The report calls for $346 million to be invested in energy efficiency in Nevada. Another $173 million would go to mass transit and freight rail improvements, $87 million to electrical grid improvements and $260 million to advancement of wind, solar and advanced biofuels technology.
I think this story deserves a lot of attention. If we tax carbon we can invest in a clean energy future that creates jobs, bolsters our economy, and helps fill our state's coffers in order to pay for much needed improvements to education and infrastructure.
Why should states like Wyoming, Alaska, and Texas be flush with revenue from energy production while we continue to ship our dollars out of state.
The new state-of-art Solar One plant generates electric at 2.4x's the current market place price for energy.
I guess we are going to double our power bills.
That might just reduce everyday Joe's spending power, increase the cost of all goods and reduce our standard of living.
A few people may lose their jobs, too.
To clarify, the average 30% savings would come from a combination of properly air sealing, duct sealing and insulating. Les Lazareck, Home Energy Connection, LLC
"Lazareck said improving insulation homes could reduce energy use by Nevada's 700,000 homes by 30 percent."
This is a poorly constructed sentence.
How many of those 15,000 jobs will be given to American citizens? Hope this doesn't copy the hiring practices of the Hotel and Construction industries
When he says "investment" is that a code word for spending tax payer money?
The Interstate Highway System is a separate system within the larger National Highway System. The entire system, as of 2004, has a total length of 46,837 miles making it both the largest highway system in the world and the largest public works project in history.
The system serves nearly all major U.S. cities, with many Interstates passing through downtown areas. The distribution of virtually all goods and services involves Interstate highways at some point. - wikipedia.com
Nance- what is so wrong with investing tax payer money in the US? You would rather see Dubya and Cheney send 10 billion US dollars per month to Iraq? One billion US dollars to Georgia (next to Russia)?
Everything you eat and purchase has to be trucked, railed, or flown into Vegas. All of these entities were paid for with "investments" from taxpayers- duhhhhh.
Spending tax payer money on "green" infrastructure would be one of the best investments in history. Remember, when the panels are paid for, the cost of production is almost zero. Can you handle price decreases on your energy bill in the future, or are you convinced coal will last forever. Sunshine will be on Earth longer than coal deposits or gasoline.
Incidentally, McSpend and Borrow(Palin) won't balance the budget either.
You are probably right.
We are already passing on to the next generation trillions of debt.
So why worry about more spending.
I have never meet a Democrat who said, "Nope, I can't not think of more ways to spend the taxpayer money. All out of ideas."
Solar and wind are very expensive source of energy.
The new Solar One plant is generating energy at 2.4x times the current market price of energy.
Cost of production is not zero. That is not true.
There are labor cost to run the plants. There is the cost of material to fix panels and turbines. I think the panels have a major part that only last 5 years and it cost a lot to replace. Wind turbines systems break down often and turbines have to be frequently replaced.
Also, it cost tons of money to build high power transmission lines to the remote areas that host wind and solar plants.
Solar and wind are not 24/7 generators of energy.
Storage of energy is very expensive.
Since, solar and wind are not reliable 24/7 generators of energy then power companies will have to have a standby systems from reliable sources like coal, natural gas and nuclear.
In effect, one will be doubling the captial and labor cost of providing energy.
Fuel cost is the only savings that solar and wind can provide.
Solar and wind are losers in financial terms.
If they were cheap systems then would be a mad rush to build those systems. They only way for those systems being built is with large tax incentives to make it profitable. Even then, the power users will have to buy a premium for power that come from solar and wind sources.
First, Democrats and Greenies have locked up trillions of dollars of oil and gas.
Now, you are intent on making our power bills to double.
Thank you for destroying our economy.
Wind power is going to be a force (no pun intended). Even the "greenies" like the offshore concept starting on the East Coast.
If offshore wind advocates have their way, scores of 140-foot blades will be spinning in the ocean breeze nearly a dozen miles away, barely visible to the sunbathers.
Delaware proponents say wind offers more long-term energy independence than offshore oil. Residents along the Eastern seaboard are embracing it as a stable-priced, environmentally friendly energy alternative.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/...
The technology will get better and cheaper and we will someday depend on solar, wind, tides, hydroelectric, and geothermal for most, if not all, of our energy. (throw in a few nuclear plants as well)
I don't want to destroy our economy, I want long term energy independence. Most of the economic downturn is credit related. Energy costs are actually falling right now.
Once they work out a super capacitor that can store electrical energy (cheaply) the world will change again. Oil and possibly gas will lose due to basic economics- expense.
It does not make sense to build at ton of solar and wind plants that will make our power bills to go up.
I know Democrats could care less about the average Joe's or Jane's wallet. Democrats are always wanting to spend their money.
It would be wiser to build some solar and wind and to invest a ton in R & D to make the technology more cost effective.
Our power bills are going up already and the only product of that increase is more burned coal. I could live with increases that are funding clean power.
What I cannot live with is Republicans constantly talking about how Democrats like to spend money when as of today, our federal deficit is higher than it has ever been, and that is directly caused by the policies of the current Republican administration over the last 8 years. I also love the fact that they want to continue to spend money and then demonize raising taxes. Republicans need a serious lesson in accounting. And why they are going back to school, I hope they expand their vocabulary. They can start with word “fiscal responsibility”.
I applaud the efforts of men like Robert Buntjer from the electrical JATC (www.earnwhileyoulearn.org), Rob Dorinson from Evergreen Recycling (www.evergreenlv.com) for their commitment to our environment and for their passion to educate the rest of us who do not know the environmental impacts of turning on our light switches or throwing recyclable materials away.
I am very excited to see the development of renewable energy now that the people are speaking louder than the lobbyists.