Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

Rep. Ed Markey Optimistic on Energy Legislation in 2010

"If there is going to be a clean energy revolution, let it begin here in the U.S."

Print this article

 Editor’s Note: Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. He is co-author of the Waxman-Markey Bill, or the American Clean Energy & Security Act (ACES).

On March 2, 2010, Markey addressed the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., where he expressed optimism that clean energy legislation will pass Congress in 2010.  The following statements are verbatim excerpts from Markey’s prepared comments, with headers inserted by the Green Labor Journal.

Impressive clean energy growth in the past decade
In ten years, clean energy has grown impressively. And ten years from now, projections are that it will grow exponentially.

Wind - In 2000, America had only 2,400 megawatts total of wind energy. Then, last year, America built nearly 10,000 megawatts of new wind energy, increasing our total wind capacity 40 percent in a single year, taking us from 25,000 megawatts to 35,000 total megawatts. By 2020, we could have more than 100,000 megawatts of wind.

Solar - Ten years ago, we only produced 350 megawatts of solar electricity in America. In 2009, we BUILT 400 megawatts of solar power in a single year, bringing the total to 2,000 megawatts. On average, new installations have grown 40 percent every year for a solid decade. Even if the investment tax credit doesn’t get extended beyond 2016 and growth rates in solar level off, we can still expect 40,000 megawatts of solar by the end of the decade.

Biomass - Ten years ago, most people hadn’t even heard of biomass—if someone mentioned “biomass” to me back then, I’d probably think it was some new biotech startup company. Back in 2000, we had only 10,000 MW of biomass electrical capacity. With no signal to the marketplace, that number grew by about 3 percent in ten years. By 2020, the biomass industry believes America will be producing another 1,500 megawatts of electricity, mostly in the Southeast United States. That’s about 5 times the growth of the previous decade.

Hydro - New technologies are being developed that allow hydroelectric facilities to produce far more power and do so far more efficiently than they could in the past. Hydropower added 700 megawatts in the last 3 years, and 2,500 megawatts are now in the pipeline. With thousands of existing dams currently not creating any power, existing dams in need of upgrades, and new technologies being developed to safely capture river currents, an additional 60,000 more megawatts is achievable within the next 15 years.

Natural Gas - Ten years ago, we had 200,000 megawatts from natural gas, which creates half the carbon emissions of coal. Now, our total is 400,000 megawatts, twice that of a decade ago. Over the last couple years, we discovered vast new natural gas reserves in shale rock, stretching from the Marcellus Shale in the Southeast to the Barnett Shale in the Northeast.

Because of the revolution in shale gas: estimates of domestic reserves have been revised upward by over 30 percent; U.S. reserves are expected to last a century at current levels of production; natural gas prices are expected to be considerably lower and less volatile.  For the next decade and beyond, the United States now has a domestic supply of natural gas that is more abundant, more consistent, and less expensive than was previously understood. 

Energy Efficiency - Saving energy in our buildings and appliances fights climate change and puts spare change in people’s pockets. In 1987, I passed a bill that raised efficiency standards for several appliances, including air conditioners, refrigerators and other household devices.

After fighting two separate Bush administrations to enact the standards, they finally went into effect. And the results were remarkable. Air conditioners got 30 percent more efficient, reducing electricity demand by 41,500 megawatts. That’s like taking 41 large power plants or nuclear reactors offline.

Refrigerators became more efficient, too. My new national refrigerator standards prevented the need for 12,500 megawatts of electrical generating capacity or more than 12 large power plants or nuclear reactors. And our drinks are just as cool today as they were before.

The next 10 years
So let’s be conservative, and look 10 years out and see what these advances will do. No wild predictions, just reality.

Waxman-Markey, the bill I co-authored in the House that passed last June [2009], sets new goals for clean energy and energy efficiency, and calls for a 17 percent reduction in global warming pollution by 2020. That means we need to reduce about the equivalent of 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year below current levels.

Let’s start with a conservative estimate that adds up these developments in clean energy over the next ten years: 100,000 new megawatts of wind; 40,000 new megawatts of solar; 7,000 megawatts of geothermal; and more than 28,000 new megawatts of biomass and hydropower.

With that, we’ve already created 175,000 new megawatts of clean energy. That would get us one-third of the way towards meeting the 2020 Waxman-Markey emissions target.

Now let’s talk about natural gas. If we double the amount we use, the existing natural gas plants—without building a single new plant—cleaner natural gas can get us another third of the way towards the 2020 target.

Now include the automobile fuel efficiency improvements I authored in the 2007 energy bill that we’ll see over the next decade; and the potential energy efficiency savings available through more efficient lighting, appliances, and building design included in the Waxman-Markey bill.

That’s another one-third.  Guess what? We’ve reached the Waxman Markey 2020 target ─ with current technology and without major breakthroughs.

These developments will continue because of the policies the Democratic Congress put in place to advance these technologies.

We extended the Investment Tax Credit to 2016, which will give solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, fuel cells and other zero-carbon technologies the incentives to invest capital and generate electricity. The Production Tax Credit, which incentivizes companies to create electricity, will continue through 2012.

American ingenuity and innovative technologies
This pathway illustrates how we can reach these goals. And I believe it underestimates the advances we will make. It does not count the innovative technologies we know will come from American ingenuity.

It does not count the 8,400 megawatts of new nuclear plants supposedly in the pipeline ─ so any cost overruns and delayed deadlines on those plants would not disrupt our emissions reductions.

It does not include the carbon capture and sequestration technologies that are the future of the coal industry.

It assumes we’re still refueling our cars at the gas pump rather than plugging them into a new Smart Grid.

It assumes no reductions from saving forests or agricultural advances.
This clean energy revolution is the reality some have refused to accept, preferring instead to engage in a sort of technological ancestor worship.

And the way to sustain a robust market for these emerging, job-creating, clean energy technologies is by passing a clean energy and climate bill like Waxman-Markey.

Federal Policy Unleashed Telecom Revolution
I’ve seen this revolution before in telecommunications policy.
In the early to mid-nineties, Congress passed three important policies to spur innovation:

1) The 1992 Cable Act that created the satellite TV industry,
2) The 1993 Spectrum Act that triggered the digital transition to wireless,
3) And the capstone policy, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which pushed businesses into Darwinian technological competition.

Before the 1996 Telecom Act, not one home in America had broadband. Not one. After legislation changed the incentives, we moved in a very brief period of time from the black rotary dial phone to the Blackberry, which I have even seen some of you using instead of listening to my speech.

As a result of American leadership, the international language of the Internet is Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, Facebook and Hulu. It is an American vocabulary.  And technology revolutions beget technology revolutions. The Internet and information technologies unleashed in telecommunications are going to enable the backbone of the clean energy technology revolution: the Smart Grid.

An American-led clean energy future
We still have the opportunity to build an American-led clean energy future, and I’m proud to say that we are putting in place a legislative triple play:

1) In 2007, after the Democrats took back Congress, we passed the first increase in fuel economy standards in decades, and promoted the use of advanced renewable fuels.
2) Then, in the January 2009 Recovery Act, we invested $80 billion in the clean energy infrastructure and technologies, laying the foundation for an American clean energy economy to flourish.
3) The capstone policy to unleash the clean energy revolution is Waxman-Markey, the first comprehensive clean energy and climate bill in history.

But the clean energy skeptics say our economy is too shaky. Now is not the time. The clean energy contrarians often say America should look to see what China is doing first.

That’s when I always say: EXACTLY─ look at what China is doing FIRST! China is FIRST in solar manufacturing. China is FIRST in the manufacturing of wind turbines. Last year, for the first time, China became FIRST in wind energy deployment. They are building the turbines, and they are using them.

I was in China in May with Speaker Pelosi. We toured a wind turbine manufacturing facility. The stark steel machines looked to me that day like Cuban missiles, pointed this time at the U.S. economy.

Instead of the American economy importing millions of barrels of oil a day that say MADE BY OPEC, I want American workers to build and export clean energy technologies that say MADE IN AMERICA.

But if we don’t get America off the sidelines by enacting Waxman-Markey, there’s a real risk that we’ll be seeing the words MADE IN CHINA on the world’s solar panels and wind turbines for years to come.

And China isn't the only sprinter in this field. Germany's wind energy industry now rivals vehicles as the number one export. That means America won't just compete with Bavarian Motor Works or Volkswagen, we will have to compete with Bavarian Mega Watts and Volks-wind.

In the race to gain clean energy supremacy, the Chinese, Germans, and other countries have launched their clean energy Sputniks, while the United States has been stuck on the launch pad arguing with scientific skeptics.

In addition to these written comments, Markey made the following observations during his address:

“If there is going to be a clean energy revolution, let it begin here in the U.S.”

“The climate change doubters have lost the debate on climate change, so they attack the scientists, as if there were some ‘atmospheric illuminati’.”

“We can reach the Markey-Waxman goal with current technology, while creating new jobs.”

“It’s not talking about putting a man on the moon.  It’s not that complicated.”

“I am working to combine the telelcom and the smart grid revolution.  The energy sector is four times larger than the telecom sector.”

“Ultimately, we will see legislation in the Senate this year.  I promise you we can pass that legislation.”

“The expectations for Copenhagen were too high.  Yet, Obama and China and the top five CO2 producers got together and set the stage for a future accord.  Remember, this is the single most complex, multi-dimension chess game of all time.”

For the full text of Rep. Markey’s written address, please contact: Jerry Brown, Senior Editor, Green Labor Journal at: jbbrown@gate.net. For additional information on Rep. Markey, see Congressman Ed Market (http://markey.house.gov) and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (www.globalwarming.house.gov).