Former President Bill Clinton explained how the development of clean energy could stimulate job growth last Tuesday, when he was the keynote speaker at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Open for Business Statewide Conference.
Cuomo, who served as Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, introduced his former boss, praising his economic leadership.
"President Clinton wrote a playbook on how to make this nation's economy soar … The longest economic expansion in this nation's history was under Bill Clinton, period."
While Cuomo used the conference to try to inspire business leaders to start investing in New York, Clinton focused much of his speech on how developing clean energy initiatives in the state could lead to the creation of thousands of jobs.
Clinton described the economic techniques of the United States over the last 30 years as relying on the assumption of debt, calling the housing and finance speculations that drove the economy "glorified gambling exercise(s)." He believes that this problem stems from the "grossly exaggerated" national focus "over the issue of whether government is the problem."
Calling himself a "bleeding-heart cheapskate," Clinton went on to discuss how collaboration between government and private enterprise is necessary to ensure both economic and social success in a country.
"There's not a single example on the planet of a successful country … that doesn't have both a strong economy and an effective government working together on a coordinated economic strategy to create shared prosperity," Clinton said. "If you focus on generating jobs, you get over this wage stagnation that is killing people."
Clinton then discussed the debate on climate change. He brought up the studies of Richard Muller, a physicist at Berkeley who was one of the "3 percent of scientists who don't believe" in climate change.
Muller felt that the checkpoints being used to test for climate change were located too close to urban areas, which are generally hotter than rural areas. He conducted his own experiments, assessing the temperature using 1.6 billion temperature checkpoints. He concluded that, in fact, he was wrong and that the humans are causing the earth to warm at an unsustainable rate.
"Why take a chance?" Clinton said after he described Muller's findings. "If you just think about it, changing the way we produce and consume energy, whether it's growing more efficient bio-fuels … or building windmills, or retrofitting buildings is an incredibly efficient way to create a large number of jobs, if you do it right."
Clinton described the economic benefits of switching from carbon-based energy to clean energy. "You put a billion dollars into a coal fire plant and it creates about 870 jobs … if you put it into solar panels and you make them here, it creates about 1,900 jobs."
He also illustrated the benefits of a new bill that Cuomo signed into law at the end of the last legislative session, which allows New Yorkers to use on-bill financing to reduce the costs of retrofitting their homes while simultaneously creating thousands of jobs.
This type of on-bill financing is used in "conservative, Republican Nebraska … the only place in America where they have socialized electricity," according to Clinton.
Middle-class homeowners in Nebraska have the option of allowing innovative companies to enter their homes for one day and retrofit them, which could save individuals an average of 22 to 24 percent on energy costs, and can choose to either pay for the retrofitting upfront, or on their utility bills.
"Everybody gets a job, with nobody out of pocket any money, and you're giving power back to the utility which reduces its capital requirements in the future to build new power plants … now that New York has adopted this financing mechanism, it could create 10,000 to 12,000 jobs a year," Clinton said.
Assembly Energy Chair Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, championed the efforts to create an on-bill recovery program in New York starting with the passage of the Green Jobs Green New York Act in 2009. Now with on-bill financing, the Green Jobs Green New York program will direct the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to work with energy companies to offer energy efficiency loans to homeowners and small businesses to be paid back through utility bills.
"Giving consumers the ability to finance energy savings projects through their utility bills will present huge job creation opportunities by opening up whole new markets for employers in the building improvement process … As a world leader in the fight against climate change, President Clinton has seen the positive economic and environmental ripple effects that come out of large scale investments in energy efficiency," Cahill said.
Ross Gould, the air and energy program director of Environmental Advocates of New York, praised on-bill financing as "a great mechanism that allows people to free up capital" to invest in clean energy.
"New York invested $12 million in expanding solar photovolpaic systems [which generate] enough energy to power over 800 homes," Gould said, praising state agency's efforts to generate solar power.
"Investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency not only reduces pollution, but saves homeowners and businesses money, creates jobs," and keeps New York money within the state, where it can be reintroduced into the economy, said Gould.
Dan Kartzman, the president of Powersmith Home Energy Solutions also agreed with Clinton's endorsement of on-bill financing.
"Upfront costs are the biggest barrier to residential energy efficiency work. On-bill financing will help eliminate this barrier and bring energy efficiency to moderate income households … We're ecstatic that former President Bill Clinton recognizes the job creation potential of these green financing programs," said Kartzman.
"New York can rise again," Clinton concluded. "You just gotta' figure out what you have to do to win for the people that you came here to represent … as long as you keep your head in the right place … [and realize] that cooperation wins the day, you're going to be fine."
Source: www.legislativegazette.com
Cuomo, who served as Clinton's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, introduced his former boss, praising his economic leadership.
"President Clinton wrote a playbook on how to make this nation's economy soar … The longest economic expansion in this nation's history was under Bill Clinton, period."
While Cuomo used the conference to try to inspire business leaders to start investing in New York, Clinton focused much of his speech on how developing clean energy initiatives in the state could lead to the creation of thousands of jobs.
Clinton described the economic techniques of the United States over the last 30 years as relying on the assumption of debt, calling the housing and finance speculations that drove the economy "glorified gambling exercise(s)." He believes that this problem stems from the "grossly exaggerated" national focus "over the issue of whether government is the problem."
Calling himself a "bleeding-heart cheapskate," Clinton went on to discuss how collaboration between government and private enterprise is necessary to ensure both economic and social success in a country.
"There's not a single example on the planet of a successful country … that doesn't have both a strong economy and an effective government working together on a coordinated economic strategy to create shared prosperity," Clinton said. "If you focus on generating jobs, you get over this wage stagnation that is killing people."
Clinton then discussed the debate on climate change. He brought up the studies of Richard Muller, a physicist at Berkeley who was one of the "3 percent of scientists who don't believe" in climate change.
Muller felt that the checkpoints being used to test for climate change were located too close to urban areas, which are generally hotter than rural areas. He conducted his own experiments, assessing the temperature using 1.6 billion temperature checkpoints. He concluded that, in fact, he was wrong and that the humans are causing the earth to warm at an unsustainable rate.
"Why take a chance?" Clinton said after he described Muller's findings. "If you just think about it, changing the way we produce and consume energy, whether it's growing more efficient bio-fuels … or building windmills, or retrofitting buildings is an incredibly efficient way to create a large number of jobs, if you do it right."
Clinton described the economic benefits of switching from carbon-based energy to clean energy. "You put a billion dollars into a coal fire plant and it creates about 870 jobs … if you put it into solar panels and you make them here, it creates about 1,900 jobs."
He also illustrated the benefits of a new bill that Cuomo signed into law at the end of the last legislative session, which allows New Yorkers to use on-bill financing to reduce the costs of retrofitting their homes while simultaneously creating thousands of jobs.
This type of on-bill financing is used in "conservative, Republican Nebraska … the only place in America where they have socialized electricity," according to Clinton.
Middle-class homeowners in Nebraska have the option of allowing innovative companies to enter their homes for one day and retrofit them, which could save individuals an average of 22 to 24 percent on energy costs, and can choose to either pay for the retrofitting upfront, or on their utility bills.
"Everybody gets a job, with nobody out of pocket any money, and you're giving power back to the utility which reduces its capital requirements in the future to build new power plants … now that New York has adopted this financing mechanism, it could create 10,000 to 12,000 jobs a year," Clinton said.
Assembly Energy Chair Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, championed the efforts to create an on-bill recovery program in New York starting with the passage of the Green Jobs Green New York Act in 2009. Now with on-bill financing, the Green Jobs Green New York program will direct the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to work with energy companies to offer energy efficiency loans to homeowners and small businesses to be paid back through utility bills.
"Giving consumers the ability to finance energy savings projects through their utility bills will present huge job creation opportunities by opening up whole new markets for employers in the building improvement process … As a world leader in the fight against climate change, President Clinton has seen the positive economic and environmental ripple effects that come out of large scale investments in energy efficiency," Cahill said.
Ross Gould, the air and energy program director of Environmental Advocates of New York, praised on-bill financing as "a great mechanism that allows people to free up capital" to invest in clean energy.
"New York invested $12 million in expanding solar photovolpaic systems [which generate] enough energy to power over 800 homes," Gould said, praising state agency's efforts to generate solar power.
"Investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency not only reduces pollution, but saves homeowners and businesses money, creates jobs," and keeps New York money within the state, where it can be reintroduced into the economy, said Gould.
Dan Kartzman, the president of Powersmith Home Energy Solutions also agreed with Clinton's endorsement of on-bill financing.
"Upfront costs are the biggest barrier to residential energy efficiency work. On-bill financing will help eliminate this barrier and bring energy efficiency to moderate income households … We're ecstatic that former President Bill Clinton recognizes the job creation potential of these green financing programs," said Kartzman.
"New York can rise again," Clinton concluded. "You just gotta' figure out what you have to do to win for the people that you came here to represent … as long as you keep your head in the right place … [and realize] that cooperation wins the day, you're going to be fine."
Source: www.legislativegazette.com
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