Green Energy Will Stimulate the Economy Vis-a-Vis Creating Millions of Jobs; Watch Colorado and West Virginia:

According to The Washington Post, Colorado has had greater and faster success than expected with implementing their renewable energy plan, despite resistance and propaganda from the oil/gas industry. The people wanted it. They got it, and it works (just like here, in New England). According to The Sierra Club, West Virginia is about to try, so give them your moral support :

"The residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, with the support of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, are proposing the development of a 440-megawatt wind farm as an economically viable alternative to a planned mountaintop-removal coal-mining operation. If the mountaintop-removal coal-mining proceeds as planned, it will destroy ten square miles of the mountain, pollute waterways, devastate the surrounding communities, and eliminate the vast wind potential the mountain now holds.
Add your signature to the petition asking West Virginia Governor Manchin to protect Coal River Mountain and bring clean energy and green jobs to West Virginia! "

Renewable Power's Growth in Colorado Presages National Debate
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 18, 2008; A01

DENVER -- When Colorado voters were deciding whether to require that 10 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable fuels, the state's largest utility fought the proposal, warning that any shift from coal and natural gas would be costly, uncertain and unwise.

Then a funny thing happened. The ballot initiative passed, and Xcel Energy met the requirement eight years ahead of schedule. And at the government's urging, its executives quickly agreed to double the target, to 20 percent.

In Colorado -- a state historically known for natural gas and fights over drilling -- wind and solar power are fast becoming prominent parts of the energy mix. Wind capacity has quadrupled in the past 18 months, according to Gov. Bill Ritter (D), and Xcel has become the largest provider of wind power in the nation.

The politics and economics of energy are shifting here in ways that foretell debates across the country as states create renewable-energy mandates and the federal government moves toward limiting carbon emissions. One advocate calls Colorado "ground zero" for the looming battle over energy.

Despite a continuing boom, oil and gas companies here are on the defensive. They are spending heavily as they try to prevent the repeal of as much as $300 million in annual tax breaks that would be shifted to investment in renewables and other projects. . . .

"As goes Colorado, so goes the West, as far as this energy policy debate." . . .

Here are a few million more reasons to want renewable energy in your state:

From EndOil.org:

A Clean Energy Economy is Good for American Workers

Fighting global warming and creating a new economy based on the efficient use of existing energy, reducing polluting emissions, and the conversion to renewable sources of power will be a boon to the American economy and workers. Millions of new “green” jobs will be created in implementing global warming solutions and creating a new renewable energy economy. Even better, the vast majority of those jobs are in the same areas of employment that people already work in today.

For example, constructing wind farms requires sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings relies on roofers, insulators and building inspectors. Expanding mass transit systems employs civil engineers, electricians, and dispatchers.

Although the exact number of “green-collar jobs”—those that are tied to a renewable energy economy and those which provide high enough wages and benefits to support a family, and long-term opportunity for advancement-- is hard to determine. Here are some estimates:

· A $300 billion investment in America’s economic and energy future over 10 years is estimated to produce 3.3 million jobs and a $1.43 trillion gain in GDP.
Source: Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy for America

· 14 million workers in 45 different existing occupations -- nearly one-tenth of the US workforce – will benefit from the transition to a new energy economy.
Source: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Job Opportunities for the Green Economy, 2008 http://www.umass.edu/economics/Green_Jobs_PERI.pdf

· Renewable energy creates 40% more jobs per dollar invested than coal fired plants.
Source: Apollo Alliance, 2004 published report, New Energy for America

· If automakers are required to have a fleet-wide average of 35mpg by 2018, car manufacturers would gain 23,900 jobs, and nationwide there’d be an increase of a total of 241,000 jobs by 2020.
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, June 2007

· The solar energy industry employed over 20,000 people in 2001. That number is expected to increase 7.5 times -- to 150,000-- by 2026.
Source: United States Photovoltaic Industry, May 2001

· The U.S. has 18,000 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity. In 2006, the wind industry created 16,000 direct jobs.
Source: American Wind Energy Association, March 2007

· 50,000 megawatts of added wind capacity across 25 states will generate well over 100,000 jobs in manufacturing generators, rotors, towers and other turbine components.
Source: Renewable Energy Policy Project, 2004

For additional estimates of future job creations and actual numbers of those already implemented, please refer to the links provided.

http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/528
http://accounting.pro2net.com/x62825.xml

After all that, here is how John McCain handles the subject of renewable energy:


From MoveOn.org:

What if there was a vote to decide if $13.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies should go into oil alternatives, like solar and wind? What would you want your Senator to do?

Well, as you probably guessed, there was such a vote. We needed 60 votes to prevail, and 59 of them were in. But John McCain ducked the vote.¹

As a result, instead of powering millions of homes with clean energy and building next-generation solar technology, we're giving ExxonMobil and other companies billions in tax breaks at a time when they're already making record profits.

The ad links Republican support for oil tax breaks with the campaign contributions they're taking from the oil companies. Exposing their favors for big oil can puncture Republican promises to help people hurting from high gas prices.

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead.html?id=13516-2881118-puSghIx&t=4

Thank you for all you do.

–Noah, Justin, Nita, Anna and the rest of the team

Source:
1. "Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007," U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote, December 13, 2007
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00425&long=1