Alan S. Blinder
1/31/2011
President Obama’s call for a major technological push for cleaner energy could be realized if decision-making is left in private hands and the jobs created will be in the private sector. Such a policy would not cost taxpayers a dime and would eventually reduce the federal budget deficit. Blinder says the “bang for the buck” from a phased-in CO2 levy would be infinite at first–lots of jobs at zero cost to the federal budget. Up to now our country has done next to nothing to curb CO2 emissions. A stiff tax would make a world of difference. Blinder promises that the US will eventually succumb to the inexorable logic of a phased-in CO2 tax, if you’re young enough to live that long.
Blinder, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University and vice chairman of the Promontory Interfinancial Network, is a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Link to full text in primary source.
Michael Skapinker
Bjorn Lomborg
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.
Bill McKibben
Currently, nuclear power plants supply about one-fifth of the nation’s energy. And no member of the public has ever been injured by a nuclear power plant in the United States, nor has any nuclear worker died of a radiation-related incident. California would have to remove more than half a million passenger cars from its roads to eliminate the amount of carbon dioxide prevented by the state’s four nuclear reactors. The two reactors in Georgia will create an estimated 3,500 jobs during construction and 800 permanent jobs when the reactors are up and running. In California, where a state moratorium on new reactors has been in place since 1976, a majority of residents responding to the most recent California Field Poll on nuclear energy approved of building new reactors. Countries such as France, Japan, and Britain already have made great strides in extracting unused energy from used nuclear fuel, at the same time reducing the amount and longevity of waste byproducts. By employing advanced recycling techniques, advanced fuel fabrication, and new reactor designs, we could turn what is now considered waste into one of our most valuable future energy resources.
The disproportionately heavy dependence on coal in China is unique among major economies and has made China the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. With coal reserves estimated to last only 50 years and in an attempt to combat environmental and ecological damage, recent years have seen increasing emphasis placed on developing indigenous renewable energy sources. China is reportedly now the world’s leading renewable energy producer. On energy security and environmental grounds, maintaining the momentum of rapid renewable energy production growth will continue to be a high strategic development priority. China’s resource endowment, its proven technological capability, and the commercial opportunities afforded by further expansion seem guaranteed to assure the fulfillment of this priority goal.
Despite their environmental policy differences, Canada and the United States will fight climate change together.
Barack Obama has done more for the environment in a week than George W. Bush in eight years. However, the road is littered with obstacles, and the economic difficulties and challenges abroad can strongly influence any green advancement in the future.
