Center for American Progress: "Wired for Progress - Building a National Clean-Energy Smart Grid"

[Turborama]

By Bracken Hendricks | February 23, 2009


The United States stands at a crossroads. The convergence of a deep economic recession, high unemployment, energy insecurity, and a looming climate crisis demands decisive action. Our country is embarking on an economic recovery plan of historic proportions. Investments in our public infrastructure will be made to get the economy moving, but we need to make sure we get the economy moving in the right direction. Jump-starting economic activity is only the start. The future of our nation’s competitive economic advantage and our long-term prosperity rests on the choices we make now—in particular, whether we build a modernized infrastructure for jobs and growth that uses resources wisely, anticipates the coming demand for low-carbon energy, and captures new opportunities for innovation and improved productivity.

Inaction today presents very real and growing costs. To allow a climate crisis to proceed unchecked will directly harm people’s lives and the prosperity of the global economy. Global warming presents the threat of lost agricultural productivity, drought and reduced supplies of fresh drinking water, the migration of environmental refugees (creating new global conflicts), and substantial economic damages and lost property for coastal communities. At the same time, our nation’s growing reliance on oil is a major national security concern. During the 1973 oil embargo orchestrated by the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, the United States imported less than a third of its oil needs, yet constraints on supply at the time created economic, social, and foreign policy disruptions. Today, we import nearly 70 percent of our oil—at a cost of $478 billion dollars in 2008 alone—representing a major contribution to our national trade imbalance.

Yet solutions to these mounting crises offer real opportunity as well. Because buildings contribute fully 43 percent of our nation’s CO2 emissions, beating global warming will require that we retrofit millions of homes for energy efficiency, stimulating demand for construction jobs and advanced technology. Reducing oil consumption will require a renewed commitment to the fuel economy of our cars and trucks, but also the electrification of our passenger fleet through plug-in hybrid cars, revival of our automotive industry, and the conversion of long-haul trucks to run on domestic natural gas or advanced biofuels. All of these solutions will require new investments in more modern and productive infrastructure and manufacturing capacity—creating stronger communities that rely on the skills of America’s workers to build a more efficient and competitive economy.

In short, the answer to our economic, energy security, and environmental crises lies in rebuilding America—creating jobs and laying the foundation for sustainable long-term growth. Today there is plenty to fix. Our country’s entire infrastructure is in disrepair from years of neglect and disinvestment. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the United States a “D” in infrastructure maintenance, citing more than $2.2 trillion of deferred and neglected investments in our roads, bridges, transit, schools, storm water, and energy systems.1 This failure to invest over the past several decades threatens U.S. industry, imposes costs on businesses and workers, and causes preventable harm to our communities. While the costs of inaction are staggering, the opportunity to rebuild the foundations of our economy and our public infrastructure is equally inspiring. Reconstruction must become a national priority no less urgent than the Marshall Plan.

Continues: www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/wired_for_progress.html

Read the http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/pdf/electricity_grid.pdf">full report (pdf)

Download the http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/pdf/energy_grid_execsumm.pdf">executive summary (pdf)

Background: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/grid_101.html">Energy grid 101

Infographic: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/clean_energy_pipeline.html">Building a Clean Energy Pipeline: The Four Components for Success

(Formatting edit)