"Bright Future" Report: New Game Plan for Clean, Green Jobs
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March 19, 2009
Seattle, WA - Authors of a new report say they have outlined how the Northwest can save enough electricity - and make the rest from clean, renewable sources - to meet the region’s growing demand for power. The Bright Future report, released by the Northwest Energy Coalition, the Sierra Club, and Save Our Wild Salmon, insists it can be done without building new coal-fired plants - and suggests some existing plants could even be closed.
Sara Patton, executive director of the Northwest Energy Coalition, says Washington needs lawmakers who aren't afraid to set tougher standards in order to make it happen.
"This report says it means we have to do more energy efficiency; we have to do more renewable energy than is envisioned in the Clean Energy Initiative."
The legislature has been criticized recently for stalling on programs for clean energy and green jobs, but some lawmakers feel the governor’s plans are already too ambitious, in light of the budget crisis. The report argues that’s exactly the reason to step things up - because creating jobs and lowering power bills would help the economy.
Most of the new jobs generated would come from weatherizing homes and buildings, and developing wind power, according to the report. Stan Price, board representative for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, says the companies in his group are ready to take on the challenge.
"As we grow this resource and as we invest in this marvelously inexpensive resource for the future, we can grow these jobs - local jobs, that can’t be outsourced to other areas - in our Pacific Northwest economy."
Energy efficiency can meet all the area's normal demand, and 60 percent of any new growth - while creating more jobs than any other alternative, according to the report. The Bright Future report can be viewed online at www.nwenergy.org.