A report
by the Center for American Progress in conjunction with the Political
Economy Research Institute shows that investments in the renewable
energy industry create four times as many jobs as investments in the
oil industry. - American Progress.
But, then for the past decade our tax breaks went to...wait for it...the oil, nuclear, coal and gas industry. 80% of the
2001 energy bill, yes that bill drafted in secret from meetings between the former VP Dick Cheney and representatives from oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy industry, was spent giving tax breaks to those same industries. The 2003 Energy Bill generated
$23.5 billion to these industries in the form of tax breaks and loosened regulations.
And where are we today? Needing jobs. Still dependent on foreign oil, falling further behind in innovative energy solutions.
Well, we're investing less in renewable energy than...Germany whose population is 1/3 of ours with an economy 1/4 our size.
Who's going to generate the jobs drive their economy out of this recession, faster, while creating a foundation for sustained growth?
Who's going to break their dependence on foreign oil, first? How much would that save in our DoD budget if we didn't need to defend middle east sources of oil?
China is spending twice as much as the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act spends to lay the foundations for a green energy
economy, despite the U.S. economy being 1.5 times as large as China’s.Guess whose economy will recover fastest from this global recession? I guess that's a good thing as China will be able to lend us more money to pay for the tax breaks to oil, gas, nuclear and coal and the costs of not generating new jobs from innovative technologies in green, sustainable energy.
A
New Strategy to Spur Energy Innovation is posted at
Issues published by the National Academy of Sciences. New is needed. The same old thing will get the same old results. And that's insane.