Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke at a renewable energy conference in Nevada, and he had some interesting things to say:
“Every time our country has faced a daunting challenge, we have risen to the occasion. That’s who we are. That’s what we do best,” said Reid. “And that’s what we must do today: return to the endless well of American ingenuity – and turn to the endless sources of renewable energy all around us – to set a new course that will keep us safe, create good jobs, and protect our planet for generations yet to come.”
Good boilerplate. But what about specifics?
He had those too:
He urged Congress to pass a national Renewable Electricity Standard, a minimum requirement of renewable fuels as a percentage of all energy consumption.
And Reid described how the clean energy business will create the jobs of the future:
On the other hand, Reid cited a University of Nevada-Las Vegas study found that solar, wind, geothermal and biomass projects would create more than $20 billion in business for Nevada over the next 25 years.
“Each new megawatt of geothermal power creates up to 10 new jobs. Each new megawatt of solar-thermal and wind power create at least six new jobs,” he said.
Reid said, “If just half of Nevada’s potential clean energy resources were developed, 22,000 new jobs in the next decade would be created.”
This argument is exactly the one that needs to be made. Former climate deniers are starting to fall back on the “doing something about climate will destroy the economy” line. These sorts of studies help refute that claim.
Reid also spoke about the need for an intelligent power grid that allows home energy producers to contribute to the grid:
Consumers also should have the ability to reduce their power bills by generating renewable power at home or at their business, said Reid. Consumers should also have the option to have a net meter installed at a fair and reasonable cost so they can get credit from their electricity provider for home generation.
The utilities should build a smart power grid that can charge electric automobiles and store electricity to reduce our reliance on oil, including oil from unstable regions of the world, he said.
And I’m not sure how this would work, but Reid also proposed using federal lands for renewable energy production:
The federal government should set aside large tracts of federal land that are environmentally appropriate for renewable energy production, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told a renewable energy conference here Tuesday.
Would be pretty ironic if protected lands were used for this purpose, and environmental groups objected.
All in all, a great speech. Now if he could just get Congress to pass those renewable energy tax credits…
Tags: energy policy, harry reid, smart grid
