03 March 2008
Governors Set Sights on Clean Energy
States can take the lead in cutting emissions, adopting renewables
Washington – Fresh from the National Governors Association (NGA) meeting where he promoted the conference theme of “securing a green energy future,” NGA chair and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty heads for the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), where he is a keynote speaker.
He calls energy and its environmental impact “among the most important issues facing our country and our world.” Speaking to America.gov, he urged the adoption of more renewable and cleaner fuels to spare the environment and to make America “less reliant on foreign oil.”
The clean-energy initiative that he introduced to the NGA is a four-pronged approach, with energy conservation being the first step.
“The cheapest and cleanest energy is energy we don’t use,” he said.
Other steps are developing and using cleaner, renewable fuels; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and sharing research on and commercializing green technologies.
“We can create an economic benefit, more jobs and more economic activity through green collar jobs … that come with a new industry developing and accelerating in the United States,” Pawlenty said.
The states, he said, are “so-called laboratories of democracy, where they can … try new things before it is rolled out across the whole country. That’s certainly happening in the area of clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions.” Different states have different strategies, depending on their own needs and resources, but Pawlenty sees “a great consensus about making progress” toward energy efficiency.
“It’s going to vary from area of the country, area of the world, based on that state or region’s political heritage, their cultures, their natural resource base, their economy, their appetite for this kind of change,” he said. Minnesota is a major producer of wind energy, for instance.
Pawlenty is enthusiastic about electric vehicles. “If we can get plug-in electrics that are between 30 miles [78 kilometers] and 100 miles [260 kilometers] per plug-in, that’s going to make a huge difference in our greenhouse gas emissions and in the way we use energy in the United States.”
A COMING REVOLUTION IN GREEN TECHNOLOGY
The Minnesota governor thinks green technology has potential analogous to the information technology revolution in Silicon Valley. The business sector, increasingly interested in this emerging industry, is only “waiting for the right signals coming from policymakers and policy leaders so that they can plan their future,” he said.
At the NGA closing plenary session on February 25, Pawlenty said, “From the discussions we’ve had these past three days, it’s clear that governors are leading the way to ‘Americanize’ this country’s energy future” to improve energy security and quality of life.
America’s green-energy growth is being accomplished with the help of international partners. In states such as California, Nevada and Minnesota, major renewable energy projects have been built with the expertise of foreign companies.
“We have foreign investment in the clean energy industry in our state,” Pawlenty said, giving the example of India-based Suzlon Energy that built a wind power plant in Minnesota, providing needed jobs. “Now they are planning on doubling or more the size of that plant and the number of employees.” Suzlon, which ranks fifth globally among producers of wind turbines, has projects in 15 countries.
But environmental efforts begin at home, he said. “It starts with us as individuals. Everybody can do some things individually to use energy more wisely,” from using energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances to simply using less energy. Communities also are beginning to pitch in and define clean-energy goals.
“They don’t call it America warming, they call it global warming,” he said, adding that what happens in one place is felt across the globe; the challenge must be met by all nations. “A real solution is going to have to involve India, it’s going to have to involve China,” Pawlenty said. “No one country can do it alone.”
The U.S. government’s aim at the WIREC event it is hosting March 4-6 is to sign up more countries to achievable renewable energy goals. Plenary sessions and a massive trade show exhibiting the latest technologies will provide ideas to international delegates trying to evolve solutions. (See “WIREC 2008.”)
Pawlenty’s own environmental commitment stems from a lifelong appreciation of the beauties of his home state, “the land of 10,000 lakes.” He said, “I personally believe that this planet was given to us by a creator and we have a stewardship obligation to try to take care of it and pass it on in as good or better shape than we found it. The old rules of the campsite -- leave it better than you found it. … the outdoors are such a great source of joy.”
