WASHINGTON — Over the next three years, Americans will be required to replace nearly all their traditional light bulbs with cooler, more energy-efficient bulbs under a 2007 bill signed by President Bush. But almost all of the 100 production lines needed to churn out new bulbs are expected to be built overseas. Similar scenarios are likely to play out for wind turbines, solar cells and other key elements in the emerging global market for clean energy. That’s the gloomy prospect faced by federal officials and business leaders alike as they confront the twin challenges of combating climate change and trying to keep the U.S. competitive in the multi-trillion dollar race to develop and sell new energy systems. President Obama stressed the opportunities — and acknowledged the challenges — in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston today. ‘From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to producing and use energy,’ he said. ‘The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation.’ Energy Secretary Steven Chu […]
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Obama: Winner of The Clean-energy Race Will Lead Global Economy
Author: JIM YANKERSLEY
Source: Los Angeles Times
Publication Date: 24-Oct-09
Link: Obama: Winner of The Clean-energy Race Will Lead Global Economy
Source: Los Angeles Times
Publication Date: 24-Oct-09
Link: Obama: Winner of The Clean-energy Race Will Lead Global Economy
Stephan: This seems to be my day for confirmation by other sources. This is so self-evidently obvious it has always amazed me that anyone would disagree -- but, of course, they do by the conservative legion because they see it as in opposition to their short-term greed.
Although I wholeheartedly support the control of carbon emissions, politically I believe that emphasizing The Green Transition, which will accomplish this carbon limitation, without directly saying so, is the leverage point to focus on.
The fact that these same conservative corporate interests, outsourced our national ability to make the light bulbs and other technologies that will be used, so that Americans will not initially benefit from the jobs to create the mechanisms of the transition is another tragic unintended consequence of profit-as-the-only-priority thinking.
When you hear a corporate executive talk about his concern about raising consumer costs when you look closer it will almost always really be about possibly reducing the corporation's profits.
