Trade Offs

Like so many people, I have been pondering the pros and the cons of the current cap-and-trade legislation. My instinct is to jump on board with anything that will benefit both the environment and the economy; however, I have this niggling doubt that the current bill up for consideration may fail on both counts.

This morning, I came upon an interesting editorial in the Wall Street Journal that I think bears repeating. Wisely, the authors of this piece did not get mired in the scientific debate over whether or not Global Warming is "real." Instead, they looked at whether or not this bill will actually solve our environmental dilemma in an economically sound manner.

At the end of the day, capping our carbon emissions and cutting back on our energy consumption may buy us time to come up with a new carbon-free energy technology; but it is not the answer. Breaking the link between our productivity and our carbon emissions is.

For most environmentalists (and I include myself in this category), the elephant in the room is that, of all the technologies we currently have available to us, nuclear is the clear winner in terms of being able to provide baseload power with virtually no carbon emissions. If dramatically reducing carbon emissions as soon as possible while still maintaining our economic productivity is our real goal, then we have to at least consider this alternative.

France figured this out in the 1970's; and as a result, currently 75% of its electricity comes from nuclear energy. According to the World Nuclear Association, France is the largest exporter of nuclear energy in the world, earning EUR 3 billion from those exports. France also recycles or "reprocesses" used fuel, utilizing 30% more energy from the original plutonium. And only about 3% of the used fuel is considered "high-level wastes" which require special storage and disposal.

Every problem has multiple solutions, most of which involve trade offs between what we want and what we don't. The key, I think, is to first be clear about our intentions and then be open to a variety of solutions to achieve our goals. Whether the current cap-and-trade proposal will help or hinder us in the process of reducing carbon emissions and boosting our economy remains to be seen.

I do, however, wonder: If our government's intention is to slash carbon emissions and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (both of which are laudable goals), then why is it not developing strong incentives for the development of nuclear power and the recycling of nuclear waste?

Creating [green] jobs

A few weeks ago, I asked my colleagues on LinkedIn the question: What is the best way to create [green] jobs?

I got 20 very interesting and insightful responses. Not statistically significant, I’m the first to admit, but still intriguing. Although there was some overlap, the arguments essentially boiled down to the following:

Nine people felt some sort of government involvement was necessary to get the ball rolling, either in the form of government incentives and tax breaks (2), government investment in infrastructure/"green" industries with “green” funds or bonds (4), or government mandates such as Feed-in Tariffs and Renewable Portfolio Standards (3).

Three felt a hybrid approach—government incentives, government investments and/or mandates—combined with a strong commitment from the private sector was the best approach.

Five suggested market solutions and a strong business commitment to create jobs. And one felt that businesses should focus on “greening” existing jobs.

One person felt that health care/workman’s comp reform would allow small businesses to survive/thrive…and, ostensibly, to go on to create green jobs.

And one said regardless what we did, there were not going to be any “green” jobs for a long time, if ever “…and we have the government and entrenched not-for-profit interests to thank.” (by this person’s own admission, he was having a bad day).

So my question is: What do YOU think is the best way to create [green] jobs?
Or, perhaps more to the point, what ARE you doing to create [green] jobs?

I look forward to hearing your responses.

In the meantime
Stay cool…go green!