Global Greenery...

Obama Embraces 'Green Path' in Stimulus Plan to Aid Environment

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama is considering a stimulus package that will include a heavy dose of spending on environmentally friendly
projects aimed at creating “green-collar jobs” and saving energy.

While the package will focus on short-term outlays for traditional infrastructure projects to jumpstart an economy now officially declared to be in recession, it will also include longer-term measures to safeguard the environment.

“Clean energy is going to be a foundation for rebuilding the American economy,” said Bracken Hendricks, an analyst at the Democratic-leaningCenter for American Progress and an adviser to the presidential-transition team. Generating jobs in concert with cutting pollution will be “a major component” of any economic-recovery plan, Hendricks said.

Obama wants to enact a recovery package soon after his inauguration as “evidence suggests the pace of this downturn is accelerating,” Lawrence Summers, the president-elect’s pick for White House economic adviser, said yesterday. Opinions vary over how big the stimulus should be, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying $500 billion would be sufficient, while Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Obama’s closest Senate ally, and Charles Schumer of New York argue that an infusion of as much as $700 billion is warranted. (Full Story)

Los Angeles boasts world's largest solar energy plan

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Monday unveiled an ambitious plan that calls for installing solar panels on residents' rooftops to meet 10 percent of the city's energy needs by the year 2020.

"Our solar initiative is the largest of any kind anywhere in the world. When it takes full effect, L.A. will have 1,280 megawatts more capacity -- more than exists in the entire United States today," said the mayor.

Utility officials say that the energy plan, Solar LA, is expected to cost each Los Angeles resident an additional 2 dollars a month once it is complete. Details of the plan, including a cost estimate, will come up over the next 90 days.

The framework of the plan calls for 380 megawatts of power to be generated from solar panels installed on residents' rooftops and through the SunShares Program, which would allow customers to purchase shares of a city solar power plant in exchange for credits on their energy bills. (Full Story)

Clean Energy Poised to Phase Out Coal and Avert Catastrophic Climate Change

Washington, D.C.- New technologies will permit rapid decarbonization of the world energy economy in the next two decades, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. These new energy sources
will make it possible to retire hundreds of coal-fired power plants that now provide 40 percent of the world's power by 2030, eliminating up to one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions while creating millions of new jobs.

"We no longer need to say ”in the future' when talking about a low-carbon energy system," says Christopher Flavin, President of Worldwatch and author of the report, Low-Carbon Energy: A Roadmap. "These technologies-unlike carbon-capture facilities-are being deployed now and are poised to make the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels obsolete."

Reducing dependence on fossil fuels will not only strike a defiant blow to the climate crisis, it will also act as an agent of recovery for an ailing global economy. Rebuilding the global energy system has the potential to create thousands of new businesses and millions of new jobs, starting immediately.

Decarbonizing the energy economy requires several key steps: the accelerated deployment of solar, wind, and biomass power plants; integrating variable power sources with digital smart grids that are more flexible in their ability to balance demand and supply; developing the capacity to store energy economically; and selectively adding a new generation of efficient micro power plants that provide heat as well as reliable electricity when it is needed. (Full Story)

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