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The world is changing. It's just that most people in North American haven't noticed. And that's because the rest of the developed world has put a price on carbon, in the form of carbon taxes, or cap-and-trade systems (or sometimes both!)
Carbon taxes — and cap-and-trade systems — are highly effective ways of cutting greenhouse gases, supporting renewable energy like wind , solar and wave power, and otherwise help creating high technology jobs that will help have-not provinces and job-hungry states find economic prosperity.
My partner and I write environmental newsletters — covering the clean transportation, global warming, renewable energy, and energy efficiency industries — that are read by business men and women at Fortune 500 companies. Every week, we read hundreds of news stories and scientific studies that show us where industry — and technology — are headed.
And every week, we watch helplessly as literally billions of dollars are being spent in the UK, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Turkey, China, South Korea, Japan... well, it's a very long list, and it covers the world's major economies. That money is ignoring Canada, and just starting to trickle into the USA. The frustration is enough to drive anyone crazy!
The good news for Americans is that they are catching up quickly; despite a sluggish economy, 2008 has been a very good clean tech year. And these industries have the potential to transform our lives, and ensure that we leave our children as far better world than the one we're currently trying to destroy.
The money pouring into clean technologies might amaze you. On just one day in September, we reported on a deal that saw Siemens selling 500 wind turbines to German utility E.ON for wind farms that will 1,150 produce megawatts (MW) of electricity in Europe, enough to power millions of homes. A deal was cut for a $50 million biomass plant in Brazil, and a $2.3 billion biomass plant in Texas. A planned-2,000 MW wind farm in Wyoming was undergoing an environmental assessment, and European financier Fortis announced a $574 million clean energy fund that will invest in wind, solar, small hydro, and biomass projects.
In fact, wind turbine sales in the United States are expect to grow from an $8 billion business in 2008 to a $60 billion business in 2013. Of course, that comes with a proviso. The wind energy business is so hot right now that there is a three-year wait for new wind turbines, and manufacturers can't make them fast enough.
So why aren't we building wind turbine plants in Canada and the US? Why are we so far behind?
We should be plowing money into renewable energy. For example, my tiny little province of Nova Scotia has more than 7,000 kilometers — almost 5,000 miles — of coastline. We could be the Saudi Arabia of wind and wave energy, supplying all of the Eastern seaboard with renewable power. And yet, in the last Conservative budget, Harper's government invested $5 million in the province to study carbon capture and sequestration — technology that is designed to boost the fossil fuel industry — at the expense of renewable energy.
If you want to know why these international banks and huge financiers are investing so heavily in renewable energy and clean transportation and energy efficiency, the reason is simple. Most countries in the developed world have implemented a price on carbon, in the form of a straight tax or as a cap-and-trade emission system.
The premise is simple and effective. In the case of cap-and-trade, large companies must pay for the right to pollute. For every ton of carbon dioxide they spew into the atmosphere, they pay a tax or buy carbon offsets, and that money is used to support renewable energy prices, or returned to consumers for energy efficiency projects, like upgrading insulation at home, or installing a solar panel on the roof.
Energy from fossil fuels is only cheap when companies get to spew toxins into our wind and our water with impunity. If big companies have to pay to pollute, then suddenly new market forces are created, and renewable energy and energy efficiency projects become attractive investments
It gives companies a choice. They can pay the taxes, or they can invest in renewable resources and energy efficiency. And the surprising thing is that once they make the changes, they realize that they return on investment actually makes sound financial sense, and they liberate more money to the cause.
Another fact is that green technology jobs are most desirable. Right now, in Maritime Canada, our resources-based industries are in free fall, and the tourism industry is struggling, so Maritimers head to the oil patch to find work. With a vibrant renewable energy industry, they could stay here, with their families, and have a quality of life that most people only dream about.
Right now, Ontario is shedding manufacturing jobs at a frightening rate, but imagine how that might change if the federal government worked with the provincial Liberals to bring two or three massive wind turbine plans to areas that formerly relied on auto manufacturing, and guaranteed that every blade they make would be used on the east coast. What if Ontario also managed to bring a Peugeot-Citroen manufacturing plant to Ontario; their fleet average miles per gallon stands at about 53. Instead of throwing $200 million at Ford to build big engines and trucks, wouldn't a fuel-efficient automotive investment make sense?
Not with Stephen Harper in charge.
And green tech jobs aren't good jobs, they're great jobs. Just this week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) highlighted a report by economists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst suggesting that the United States could create 2 million new jobs in just two years by investing $100 billion in the low-carbon economy — including energy efficiency, mass transit, and renewable energy projects — in the form of tax credits, loan guarantees, and government spending. So let's divide those numbers by our respective populations, and argue that Canada could create 200,000 for a $10 billion stimulus package comprised mostly of tax breaks and loan guarantees.
But here's where it gets interesting. The CAP program estimates that by investing in clean technology, four times as many jobs will be created as would be by a similar investment in the oil and gas industries. The study also includes that this money would provide three times the number of high paying jobs.
And the money, of course, would come from some form of cap-and-trade or carbon tax, so it wouldn't add to our debt.
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