Renewable Portfolio Standard

Ever since the economic crisis hit, lawmakers and businesses have been paralyzed by the fear that if they try to tackle environmental problems more jobs will be lost.

If they step back and analyze the situation, though, they will discover a very different reality.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit science advocacy group, recently released a report on the potential impact of establishing national renewable electricity standards. It found that requiring U.S. utilities to obtain 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources would create 297,000 jobs in the next 15 years.

That’s three times as many jobs as are necessary to produce an equivalent amount of electricity from fossil fuels. The net benefit would be 202,000 new jobs by 2025.

Barack Obama has created a top-notch team to guide his transition into the White House. Next, he should create a team to guide America’s transition to a new energy economy.

I’m not talking about the prestigious group of economic advisers Obama already has assembled to help him identify solutions to the economic meltdown.

I’m talking about a team that includes experts in sustainable energy technologies, climate mitigation and adaptation, capital investment, state and local government, business, industry and labor.