Bay State’s Clean Energy Development Strategy
BOSTON - The Bay State is rewriting its energy policy, betting that the clean energy sector is the state’s golden ticket to prosperity. In the last two years, the Legislature passed a number of bills to generate a comprehensive clean technology and environment strategy culminating with a law spurring green jobs through targeted state investment.
Massachusetts’ multi-faceted program to base more of its economic development strategy on building the clean energy sector is part of a national trend among states. California, Washington state, Iowa, Colorado, Oregon, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are other recognized leaders.
The Apollo Alliance supports the transition to a clean energy economy with key studies and policy proposals. In 2004, the Alliance published New Energy For America, which asserted that a 10-year, $300 billion investment in clean energy would yield 3 million green-collar jobs. In 2005 and 2006, the Alliance supported a series of studies by the Renewable Energy Policy Project that identified opportunities for clean energy investment in wind and other alternative energy sectors that would produce startling job growth, particularly in Midwestern states.
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New England Clean Energy Council Mary Jo Connelly Representative Salvatore Dimasi Governor Deval Patrick Web site Massachusetts Clean Energy Legislation Massachusetts Green Energy Fund Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources US Energy Department Assessment of Massachusetts Clean Energy Companies |
Last year, the Alliance published The New Apollo Program, which advocated a ten-year, $500 billion investment in clean energy to generate 5 million green-collar jobs, and a five-step implementation strategy to a clean energy, good jobs economic transition. Major proposals in The New Apollo Program were embraced by the Obama-Biden presidential campaign.
A later proposal, made public in December 2008, the Apollo Economic Recovery Act, urged President-elect Obama and Congress to immediately appropriate $50 billion for clean energy investment and green-collar job training as the foundation of an economic stimulus program. The Alliance called the proposal a “first-year down payment on building a clean energy, good jobs ‘made in America’ economy.”
That is precisely where Massachusetts’ elected leaders say they are heading. There are already 14,000 workers in Massachusetts employed in green-collar jobs, according to House Speaker Salvatore Dimasi’s office. He says that with the right combination of regulations, incentives and training programs, that number can grow.
The Green Jobs Act, perhaps the cornerstone of the legislative session, establishes the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center and provides $13 million a year for the next five years to encourage green start-up companies and offer training to help workers join the green economy.
“It is yet another bold plan that will grow the right kind of jobs in Massachusetts — clean energy jobs, green jobs and good-paying jobs in the economy of the future,” said Dimasi.
However, as is often the case, the jobs act that passed and was signed is slightly different than the bill that was originally written. A number of activists and community groups worked with the Legislature to make sure provisions for training and career opportunities for disadvantaged workers were put in place.
“The passage of the Green Jobs Bill reflects the powerful role that organized community and labor voices can play in reshaping the direction of public investment in the green economy,” said Mary Jo Connelly, research director of Community Labor United, a coalition of grassroots organizations promoting quality jobs, secure healthcare and affordable housing.
“The original bill channeled a lot of funding to subsidize corporate research and development in clean energy,” she said, “with a small amount of funding for green curriculum in the higher education system. But there were no resources to create high quality green jobs, training and support programs for our low income communities and communities of color.”
Five major pieces of clean energy legislation were approved. They included:
- Least-cost procurement rules that require electric and natural gas utilities to invest in energy efficiency measures and demand resources that are cost effective or less expensive than new energy supplies.
- A “green communities” certification and funding pool to enable municipalities to expand their energy efficiency programs;
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Councils that provide new public oversight.
- An increase in the state’s renewable portfolio standard to require utilities to obtain 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
- Combined heat and power measures that encourage industries to develop more efficient means to power their plants.
- The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the country’s first ‘cap and trade’ auction of carbon allowances. At least 80 percent of the revenue from the initiative will be invested in energy efficiency programs.
Other clean energy measures passed during the 19-month session included:
- Tax exemptions for ethanol made out of nonfood crops.
- A mandate requiring biofuels to be blended into diesel and heating fuel.
- A law requiring Massachusetts to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, which could promote the wave generating proposal pictured above.
- A comprehensive offshore wind and tidal power management plan that protects coastal waters.
I’m glad there’s a combined heat & power provision there. I’m associated with Recycled Energy Development, and we do CHP and other forms of energy recycling all the time. Indeed, energy recycling — taking heat that’s normally wasted and turning it into clean power and steam — is probably the single most overlooked energy option out there, particularly since it cuts greenhouse gases and power costs at the same time. EPA and DOE studies say more energy recycling would slash greenhouse emissions by 20%, which is as much as if we pulled every car off the road. The biggest hurdle is regulatory: state law tends to give advantages to monopoly utilities, which have no incentive to be efficient. Measures like the one in the MA bill are a step in the right direction.