Obama doubles down on green energy

As the long hangover of the 2008 economic crisis continues to linger, jobs are still a hard thing to come by in North America. Chronic unemployment, a headache for politicians even in good times, is reaching migraine proportions south of the border.

 

Jobs will be the number one issue in the U.S. election and public support for projects that create jobs will be key. But what is the best bang for your buck? Where is the big idea that will get people back to work?

It's certainly not an oil pipeline. In spite of exaggerated claims that the rejected keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas would have created tens of thousands of jobs, the U.S. government's numbers show it was actually a dud. For an investment of over $7 Billion, all they would have gotten were mere ‘hundreds’ of permanent jobs, a warming climate, and the threat of more oil spills.

For the record, Canada's equally disastrous Northern Gateway pipeline proposal is fit for the same trash bin: Costing $5.5 Billion yet creating fewer than 1,150 jobs.

Recent plans to wean the U.S. off its addiction to fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas show huge promise. Generating electricity from solar and wind power, improving building efficiency and investing in electric vehicles and high speed rail are already creating huge growth in the U.S. economy. The downside is that these efforts have been met with angry resistance from the oil industry and its backers. The wealthy and powerful oil industry is feeling threatened, working overtime to seed doubts about climate change and new technologies with the public and politicians alike. Is fighting this industry backlash really going to be worth it?      

 

What's a president seeking re-election to do?

 

Tuesday night, president Obama gave his answer during his annual State Of The Union address:

 

"I will not walk away from the promise of green energy... I will not walk away from workers..."

"I will not cede the wind or solar industries to china or Germany because we refuse to make the commitment here."

"We've subsidized the oil companies for a century, that's long enough. It's time to end the tax payers giveaways to an industry that's rarely been more profitable and double down on clean energy that has never been more promising."

And there it is. Obama, in the face of intense political pressure from corporations, opponents and even lobbying from neighbor governments, is choosing to double down on wind and solar anyway. The task of converting American energy infrastructure from a filthy expensive and insecure 19th century dinosaur to the latest and greatest renewable technology will employ a lot of people. It's an idea big enough to reach every corner of that country as companies invest and states are increasingly able to generate their own clean power.

An idea well worth fighting for; it could very well cure the economic hangover.

Canadians find themselves at a similar crossroads. Just as the green energy revolution is arriving, providing a clear path away from climate change, Canadians are being told that oil is the only hope for our economy. It isn’t, and we don’t even need to look beyond our own borders to see the evidence.