Google research report shows clean energy adds jobs and grows the economy....

Today's post: Wednesday, 7-6-2010

We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects.

And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.

At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.

And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.

Today’s post:

Google research report shows clean energy adds jobs and grows the economy....

See the full report at:

http://leadenergy.org/2011/06/google-energy-innovation-offers-transformative-impact/

Here’s the key summary:

“Achieving breakthroughs in energy technology could have a “transformative impact” on United States, offering major benefits for economic growth, job creation, lower energy costs for American families, and reduced oil consumption and carbon emissions. By 2030, the economic analysis finds that key energy innovations alone could provide the following benefits over business-as-usual:

Grow the US economy by over $155 billion in GDP/year
Create over 1.1 million new net jobs
Save US consumers over $942/household/year
Reduce US oil consumption by over 1.1 billion barrels/year
Reduce US total greenhouse gas emissions by 13%.”

Research on such technology is a first priority based on this analysis. So, is using the clean technology we already have more than we have already done.

1. Such research has some support even from conservative groups:

"...there’s one tried and true method for the federal government to drive breakthroughs in technology: major investment in research and development.

That’s why a growing bipartisan group of think tanks and business leaders — including groups like the American Energy Innovation Council, American Enterprise Institute, Breakthrough Institute, Brookings Institution, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Association of American Universities, Third Way, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, New England Clean Energy Council, and many others — have been calling on the federal government to increase its investment in advanced energy research and development from approximately $3 billion to $15 billion per year.

As David Leonhardt wrote in the New York Times last fall, “To put it another way, the death of cap and trade doesn’t have to mean the death of climate policy. The alternative revolves around much more, and much better organized, financing for clean energy research. It’s an idea with a growing list of supporters, a list that even includes conservatives — most of whom opposed cap and trade.”

One of Google’s key executives invested in a company working on battery technology enabling more electricity to be stored in a given size or weight of batteries.

(The report describes the importance of such technology well: “Breakthroughs in electric vehicle (EV) batteries could be transformative: cheaper and denser battery technology could enable mass adoption of electric vehicles and unlock much of the potential economic benefits. The report notes, “This leads to EVs, Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PHEV) achieving 90% market share for light duty vehicle sales, reducing oil consumption by 1.1 billion barrels per year by 2030 -- or more than Canada’s entire 2009 oil production.”

2. Google also has invested in expanding the use of clean technology we already have more than we have already done.

They have helped back solar thermal and solar photovoltaic large scale “farms” to produce clean electricity on a large scale.

They have supported a program to allow homeowners to install solar photovoltaic panels at no money down. (In some cases the savings on the energy bills of homeowners will start out being less than the payment for their solar system in the first year!)

And, Google has supported a major project to build more wind generated electricity.

Here’s my comment on this report:

“Very, very well done.

I most liked this part: "The alternative revolves around much more, and much better organized, financing for clean energy research. It’s an idea with a growing list of supporters, a list that even includes conservatives most of whom opposed cap and trade."

That potentially makes it politically doable.

I also like that the analysis says this policy will add jobs, add GDP, and save people money. Most people support those things. That too makes it doable politically.

That’s in addition to the reduction of our extremely dangerous dependence on the fossil fuels we are using up faster and faster.

And it’s in addition to halting excess CO2 release. That’s less salable now; but it is just as true and important.

Thanks much to Google and its key people for helping make this happen in so many ways.”