Curb Carbon Emissions Without Hurting the Economy?

There are plenty of people out there who stand to gain financially from continuing to push fossil fuels. These are the people who love to make the claim that carbon caps will ruin the United States' economy. Of course, scare tactics often work, and that is exactly why oil & coal companies use them.

What is missing from their argument are those inconvenient facts that undermine threats of our economic undoing. Outside of the oil and gas universe there are many venture capitalists who are pouring resources into green energy development in technology centers like Silicon Valley. These are the same venture capitalists who became billionaires by funding development of personal computing technology. Obviously, these investors believe there is a bright economic future for the U.S. in sectors other than oil, gas & coal. Read more HERE

A glance at Germany's manufacturing sector shows how much opportunity there is for employment growth in the creation of renewable energy components. Tens of thousands of jobs have been created in that country as they have embraced solar energy. Plus, the development of solar panels in Germany have led to a huge growth in solar energy usage. Over 300,000 solar energy systems are installed throughout Germany to generate electricity for homes, businesses and industry. Read more HERE

Today, the EPA released an economic impact analysis for the Lieberman-Warner "Climate Security Act of 2008" that shows implementation of the law would not significantly harm the U.S. economy over the next 20 years. The "Climate Security Act of 2008" cuts greenhouse gas emissions 11% below 1990's levels by 2030 and 50% by 2050. The EPA predicts that the U.S. economy will grow by 80% between 2010 and 2030 under the new law. What is the predicted economic growth during the same period WITHOUT the new law? 81%. That is a 1% difference. The only caveat in the EPA's analysis is that energy costs will likely increase during the transition away from fossil fuels. This is debatable as the cost of renewable energy is dropping significantly every year and the price of gasoline is soaring with or without carbon caps.

There is a legitimate argument to be made that energy technology from previous centuries are not the most cost-efficient and economically viable options for America.