With green energy, Northwest can help itself
By Roger Ebbage – Register-Guard Guest Viewpoint – October 30, 2008
Opinion: Editorials & Letters:
As America confronts the current economic and energy crises, now is the time to invest in clean energy technologies that will build prosperity and fight global warming. Clean energy and climate solutions are the brightest prospect for driving economic recovery and sustaining long-term prosperity.
A recent report by the Political Economy Research Institute finds that investing in clean energy would create four times as many jobs as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry. Worldwide, $148 billion was invested in renewable energy and efficiency companies in 2007 — 60 percent more than in 2006.
Just this month, regional clean technology experts Clean Edge and Climate Solutions released Carbon Free Prosperity 2025, a report that shows the Northwest can generate more than 63,000 new family-supporting jobs by focusing on five clean technology areas: solar photovoltaic manufacturing, green building design, sustainable bioenergy, wind power and “smart-grid” technologies that improve the efficiency of our electric system and more easily integrate renewable energy. The Clean Edge report shows how the Pacific Northwest can seize a leadership role in the clean-tech economy.
Oregon is already on its way to emerging as a global leader for the clean energy revolution. We have eight wind farms, 13 significant solar installations and the country’s largest solar cell maker. The solar industry is growing by more than 30 percent a year with no indication of slowing down. Eugene’s Advanced Energy Systems specializes in the design of commercial solar electric systems and commercial solar water heating systems. SOLARC Architecture and Engineering, another Eugene-based firm, is creating more than $30 million worth of energy-efficient green building projects throughout the Northwest.
Green jobs are local jobs that can’t be shipped overseas. The green economy means weatherizing thousands of buildings, installing millions of solar panels, and erecting thousands of wind turbines. These jobs help Oregonians take control of our energy future so we’re less dependent on fossil fuels.
This clean energy revolution needs a trained work force, and I’m proud of how our work at Lane Community College is playing a role in the transition to a clean energy economy. LCC is an epicenter of energy efficiency and renewable energy technician training in the United States. Our Energy Management Program has expanded from a focus on residential energy efficiency to tackling the huge need for commercial energy conservation solutions.
LCC provides our nation’s only two-year Associate of Applied Science degree in commercial energy efficiency and is one of only several colleges to provide an AAS for renewable energy technicians. We plan to expand the program to incorporate a small scale wind power component as well.
Community colleges such as LCC are uniquely positioned to respond to openings in the clean energy job market. The fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy have ample room to grow because there are so many buildings in need of efficiency upgrades, and where renewable energy applications make sense.
At the state level, we support Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s climate change package. It will help jump-start Oregon’s economy, and will lead to tens of thousands of new Oregon jobs as we manufacture and grow energy in Oregon; retrofit our homes and businesses to save energy, and create new carbon-reducing products.
With the election just days away, we want to send a bold and loud message to our elected leaders that we want them to make climate and energy solutions a priority. Mayor Kitty Piercy should be applauded for her leadership, and we must urge our other leaders — city councils, state legislators, and Congress — to truly embrace the urgency of climate disruption, and the promise of solutions.
We commend Sen. Ron Wyden for cosponsoring the Climate Security Act, and we look forward to stronger climate policy initiatives with a new president and Congress. We strongly urge Sen. Gordon Smith, if he’s re-elected, or Jeff Merkley, if he’s elected, to cosponsor legislation on the scale of what science says is needed (80 percent reductions in global warming emissions by 2050). Smith has not yet done this. We are paying attention to where our leaders stand on climate and clean energy as we go to the polls.
The most forward-thinking people in the world are recognizing the promise of a new clean energy economy. Oregon has everything to gain, and our children are counting on us.
======
Roger Ebbage has been the director of Lane Community College’s energy management and renewable energy programs since 1992. He has been involved in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industry since 1980 and teaches workshops nationally and internationally.
