Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2018)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager PRO-CON Will ban on fossil fuel energy by 2045 devastate California’s economy? AP Photo/Reed Saxon AP Photo/Noah Berger AP Photo/Noah Berger TOP LEFT: Wind turbines line the Altamont Pass near Livermore, Calif. TOP RIGHT: Workers install solar electrical panels on the roof of a home in Glendale, Calif. ABOVE: Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered plane, flies over San Francisco in 2016. PRO: Brown’s dream of banning fossil fuels is a 21st century pipe dream ALLAS — Outgoing California Gov. That way, California can offload any Jerry Brown wants to be remembered additional renewable-based power during peak times for wind and sun, and then draw on fos- as an environmental warrior — sil fuel-generated electricity to fill in the gaps. regardless of how much it costs Golden State Brown claims that unless he gets his residents and businesses. The governor just signed legislation requir- regional power grid, California residents will ing utilities to generate 60 percent of their elec- have to pay a lot more for electricity. He’s tricity from renewable sources by 2030, with a got that right, but they’re already paying a lot goal of phasing out all fossil fuels by 2045. more. Then he headed to the Global Climate The EIA says the average retail price for Action Summit in San Francisco for a victory electricity in California is 15.23 cents per lap, where he boasted that the state would kilowatt hour — higher than all but six states. launch its “own damn satellite” to track “cli- Unfortunately, Brown’s efforts will likely mate pollutants” — apparently trying make California the most expensive to outdo NASA’s Orbiting Carbon state for electricity ratepayers, and Observatory-2, which has been doing he knows it. Sometimes it’s not good just that since 2014. being No. 1. Even though California’s per-per- Brown told an audience at the bill son carbon emission rate is fairly low, signing ceremony, “Those who don’t it’s the second-largest state emitter want (the regional grid) are going MERRILL of carbon dioxide, according to the to be foisting very high prices on MATTHEWS California.” government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). No, governor, it’s you who are Ironically, given the cleaner-than-thou rhet- foisting very high prices on Californians by oric coming from the governor, California’s pushing your all-renewable-energy dream, reduction in hydro power meant its reliance on even as you try to hide the state’s reliance on non-carbon sources for electricity generation fossil fuels. actually fell between 2000 and 2015, from 78 A better solution would be for California to billion kilowatt hours to 59 billion, according turn to “carbon capture” from natural gas. to the EIA. The Associated Press reports that California By contrast, oil and natural gas mega-pro- has 54,000 active wells and is the 15th largest ducer Texas more than doubled its renewable producer of natural gas among the states. energy usage from 39 billion kilowatt hours in Natural gas is already one of the cleanest-burn- 2000 to 86 billion in 2015, and nearly all of the ing fossil fuels, but a new generation of natural gas-powered generators hopes to remove all of increase was from wind power. That should indicate that fossil fuels and the carbon. renewable energy aren’t contradictory, they’re One is just starting up in Texas. News and complimentary — and will have to be for opinion website Vox reports that the company decades to come. Net Power says it will be able to “generate Although California has in recent years power more efficiently than conventional significantly increased its reliance on wind power plants, in a smaller physical footprint, and solar power for electricity generation with zero air pollution, and capture the carbon — especially solar, where it has become the — all at a capital cost below traditional power national leader — both wind and solar power plants.” are sporadic, producing electricity only when That’s a tall order and it’s still a work in the wind blows and the sun shines. progress. But it’s much more believable — and Brown hopes to address that intermittency doable — than Brown’s all-renewables power problem by transitioning to a regional elec- plants. And it might actually cost Californians trical power grid that includes other western less. Wouldn’t that be a change for the better? states — which, not coincidentally, use fossil Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation. fuels to create electricity. D CON: Fossil fuel ban will actually boost California’s economy B ALTIMORE — Requiring clean One major reason is that green technol- ogies produce new jobs faster. Investments energy will help California’s econ- in green technologies create jobs at a higher omy, not hurt it. rate than investments in comparable conven- One obvious reason is that electric and tional technologies. hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are extremely And the first beneficiaries of green job efficient technologies that improve the state’s economy by saving consumers a lot of growth will be workers who are currently unemployed, according to a report from UC money in fuel costs. Berkeley. The benefits of electric vehicles are well- When it comes to electricity generation known. Driving an EV decreases the nation’s in the U.S., the Department of Energy’s dependence on oil, reduces fuel costs over 2017 Energy and Employment Report time and cuts pollution. found that the solar industry now employs And, most EVs on the road in the United more people than coal, oil, and gas States are also made in America. combined. For example, a report from Argonne More than 373,000 Americans National Laboratory found a higher worked part or full time in solar fraction of plug-in electric vehicles energy, and just over 260,000 of (PEVs) were assembled in the United them — or about 70 percent — States than non-PEVs in 2017. spent a majority of their time on Achieving the greenhouse gas WHITT solar projects. emissions reduction targets would FLORA Most solar energy jobs were in support a $76 billion increase in installation, construction and man- California’s gross state product as ufacturing, as the relatively new industry well as a $48 billion increase in real house- hold incomes and the creation of 403,000 continued to add capacity. new efficiency and climate-driven jobs. According to the Sierra Club’s analysis, California already gets more clean energy nearly every state in the country has more venture capital investment than all states jobs in clean energy than fossil fuels; just combined. nine states have more jobs in fossil fuels Alternative energy is by far the fast- than in clean energy. est-growing segment of the energy industry The green economy could soon become today. Wind and solar alone account for the nation’s fastest-growing job segment, more than half of the new electricity capacity accounting for roughly 10 percent of new installed in the U.S., and they’re growing jobs over the next 20 years — up to 4.2 domestically and around the world. million new green jobs — with 500,000 In 2009, while other sectors saw little or in California alone, according to a recent no investment, the clean technology sector in report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. California received $2.1 billion, 60 percent Conservative pundits love to lampoon of the total in North America. Jerry Brown, nicknaming him “Gov. Venture capital investments there totaled Moonbeam” for his infectious enthusiasm nearly $6.6 billion from 2006 to 2008, about for new ideas. five times more than its nearest competitor. Brown hasn’t figured out how to create Also, venture capital investment produces energy from moonbeams yet, but he’s thousands of new jobs. Each $100 million doing a pretty good job with sun beams and in venture capital funding helps create 2,700 wind gusts. From where I sit he deserves jobs, $500 million in annual revenues for applause, not boos. Whitt Flora, an independent journalist, two decades and many indirect jobs. covered the White House for The Columbus The ban on fossil fuel energy likely (Ohio) Dispatch and was chief congressional will increase venture capital investment correspondent for Aviation Week & Space in California, according to a study by the National Venture Capital Association Technology magazine.
