The $789 billion question - what now?

The following is a guest post from Jerome C. Ringo, President of the Apollo Alliance

Today's news is filled with images of an economy in crisis -- shuttered factories, hollowed-out cities, and neighborhood blocks littered with foreclosure signs. Even before we heard the word "recession," America's workers were at the center of our country's economic storm. We've seen firsthand how quickly once-secure careers can be replaced by fleeting jobs. We know too many employers don't respect the dignity of work and family. And every time we visit the grocery store or sit down to pay the bills, we're finding it harder to stretch our paychecks to pay for rising food and fuel prices and exorbitant healthcare costs.
President Obama takes office at a time of unprecedented challenge for our country. We must not only reverse the short-term economic slump, but also re-focus our economy away from cheap fossil fuels and toward new, clean energy alternatives.

And so the Apollo Alliance is thrilled that after hearing the voices of labor, President Obama and Congress made passing the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a top priority. The Act addresses short term economic needs while laying out a path to a better future, with unprecedented new investments in energy efficiency, upgrades to the nation's transmission grid, home energy makeovers for low-income families, and job training to create pathways out of poverty and into the career track of green jobs.

Good, "green-collar" jobs can and will be nearly everywhere in a new, clean energy economy -- from manufacturing and installing wind turbines, to retrofitting residential and commercial buildings, to getting a 21st century electric grid on line. But we must step up the pressure to make sure the Recovery Act is only the beginning of a long term investment, and to ensure stimulus dollars create the maximum benefit for our economy and our families.

To that end, states and localities must follow these core principles in spending stimulus dollars:

Create Quality Green-Collar Jobs and Economic Growth. Recovery Act funds should be directed toward creating "green-collar" jobs - jobs that are well-paid, on a career track, and contribute directly to preserving or enhancing our environmental quality. To help move more families into the middle class and spur economic growth, strong labor standards must be attached to all public investments. We must fund high-quality green jobs programs and projects that create jobs for unemployed, underemployed, and dislocated workers.

Ensure Transparency and Accountability. The President and Congress tied Recovery Act funding to an unprecedented level of federal transparency and public accountability requirements. State and local policymakers should follow this model and employ the Internet and multi-stakeholder oversight bodies so taxpayers know how the money is being spent.

Benefit All Workers and Communities. While hard times have fallen on every corner of the nation, some communities have suffered more than others. As we build a new clean energy economy, we can't leave behind our rural families, urban centers, and communities of color. We must target investments toward creating jobs in areas with high layoff and unemployment rates, as well as heavily polluted areas and low income communities.

Rebuild America Clean and Green. Every recovery dollar should be spent in a way that promotes climate stability and energy security by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our dependence on foreign oil. This means targeting transportation dollars to repair and upgrade projects and expanding public transit, and focusing environmental dollars on those projects that increase urban density and return vacant land to sustainable, productive use. For all building construction projects, policymakers should exceed federal minimums and apply energy efficiency and "green building" standards to all projects funded by federal stimulus dollars. And policymakers at the federal, state and local level should incorporate American-made systems and component parts into all clean energy projects, to create manufacturing jobs while reducing carbon emissions and oil dependence.

Create Green Jobs at Scale: The best way to create long-term growth, and to ensure that unions are a vital part of the green economy, is to fund projects of a large enough scale so that they can create multiple jobs and training opportunities. Combining stimulus programs and scaling up projects will create opportunities in fields such as energy efficiency retrofitting or solar panel installation. This will allow businesses to achieve economies of scale and allow job training programs to create career ladders into these professions for low-skill job seekers.

We are proud to have worked to create an unstoppable momentum for big changes in Washington. Now we must work together to ensure that our leaders seize the $789 billion opportunity to take America in a new clean and green direction.

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Non-polluting methods of getting to energy independence

Submitted by Jim Hermanson (not verified) on April 3, 2009 - 9:30am.

The Age of Steam Continues We are more dependent on steam power today than we were in the 1800’s because we use steam to generate almost all our electricity. Oil, gas, coal, nuclear and even garbage fired generating plants use those fuels to just boil water to make the steam that spins the generating turbines. Without steam power, life as we know it is impossible. It is this dependence on steam that puts us in thrall to the oil interests throughout the world. The only way to get rid of the oil dependency is to first get rid of the steam dependency. We need to approach the present crisis with the determination and skill that made our country great. I propose that we consider adopting the following as a reasonable way to begin to take control of the situation. We have to shift to a hydrogen economy and fully utilize wind and solar power. This will require a “Manhattan Project” type of effort. It will also create a sense of national purpose and generate thousands of jobs. Matching the supply of electrical power to the demand is as much of an art as it is a science. Electrical power demand falls into two categories – base demand and peak demand. The base demand is the minimum demand during a 24 hour period and peak demand is anything above that. Power managers match the resources (power plants) to the fluctuating demand during the day. Ideally the least expensive power is used for base power and the more expensive power is brought online only for as long as it is needed. Complicating this are the operational specifics of each type of power plant. From “hot standby” (ready to be brought online if needed) it takes about 8 hours to bring a nuclear plant online; coal powered takes about 4 hours; oil powered about 2 hours; natural gas powered about 90 minutes and a hydro plant only takes 60 seconds. Historically, hydro power has been the cheapest and nuclear is the most expensive. As long as hydro power meets an electric utility’s needs, life for a power manager is relatively simple. Once other power sources are needed it gets interesting. For example, nuclear power which is very expensive and has lots of other issues only works well as base power. Solar and wind power are not reliable 24 hours a day and they are also expensive but they do not pollute. Adding wind and solar power directly into a power manager’s available resources means they would replace fossil fuel burning resources for the period that the solar and wind generated power are available. This will vary on a day to day basis. Electricity is unique as an energy source because it has so many uses and is very difficult to transport and store. Electricity just does not travel well over long distances. The more distance between the power plant and final use for electricity the less electricity there is. You can’t plug a toaster into a lump of coal. But you can put the lump of coal in the back of a truck, move it anywhere you want, keep it there for as long as you want and use it when you want. Electricity must be converted into another form before it can be transported and stored well. Hydrogen is an ideal form because it is easy to create using electricity, it transports well in pipelines, it stores well and it is easy to re-convert it into electricity for a number of uses including fueling cars and generating plants. In order to create enough hydrogen you need immense amounts of power and water. It is highly probable that off-shore wind farms would provide sufficient power to coastal hydrogen generating plants. The hydrogen would then be piped throughout the country. The Bonneville Power Administration would be a worthy model to emulate. This provides the fuel for hydrogen economy but what about the rest of the infrastructure? Fuel cells can be sized to meet the specific electrical needs of each site. Central generating plants, capable of providing base and peak power for major metropolitan areas have not yet been built but should be possible. The infrastructure for vehicle fuel cells will develop as the number of vehicles using fuel cells increases. This will be facilitated if governmental units become early adopters of these vehicles. What about solar? Passive solar is ideal for reducing energy requirements where feasible. Solar photovoltaic panels are expensive and not as efficient as they might be. As part of the energy “Manhattan Project” we need to build the solar cell factories in this country to mass produce solar cells and panels. We then provide enough solar panels to cover the roofs of every public school and unit of government as well as on vacant school land and as “roofs” for parking lots at no cost to them. They would have title to the panels, sell the power generated to their local utility and use the income for operating expenses thus reducing (or at least limiting the growth of) local taxes. In either case there is a positive income stream goes to that school or unit of government. The net impact, to society as a whole, is positive because the income generated by selling the power will be larger over time than the amount it cost to build the plants and the panels. The solar panel plants would be sold to private firms after the school and government panels have been built. An added benefit is the price of solar voltaic panels will drop so individual homeowners could easily afford them. If all this happens steam would finally be a relic of the past instead of our life’s blood. We would no longer be dependent on others for our security and financial well being. We can export this to other countries to make them better off. Not too bad for a governmental program.