At the Cities Respond to Climate Change: The Challenge of Energy Efficiency panel discussion last Thursday evening, the audience responded heartily to comments about energy efficiency and cap and trade programs. The keynote speaker, John Podesta was in favor of cap and trade (successfully filibustered by the Senate earlier this month) and increased energy efficiency. But those ideas were countered by one of the panel members, Max Schultz, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Energy Policy. Schultz, a former senior policy advisor for the Department of Energy under the Bush administration, actually agrees with NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen that carbon emissions should be taxed. But he also claimed that energy efficiency does not necessarily translate into reduced energy use, but instead leads to increases in consumption--because lowering the price of driving encourages people to drive more.
Nearly every other comment during the question and answer period attempted a rebuttal of that statement, the most coherent one stating that it was not efficiency but a growth in productivity that lead to increased use of energy. All the other panel members said efficiency is the cornerstone of their energy policies.
The event, hosted by ConEdison and The New School, was a look at how state and local governments are trying to combat climate change. Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, said the federal government has wasted seven and a half years and has even put up roadblocks to domestic and international efforts to take on the challenge.
Podesta said state and local governments can no longer wait for the federal government to take action. The next two decades will bring severe economic and national security consequences. He cited the new (and still unclassified) National Intelligence Assessment that examined security risks posed by climate change, including crop losses, wild fires, climate induced human migrations, increased food and water shortages and the spread of disease. The National Assessment says the gravest risks are for sub-Saharan Africa, but will effect the entire globe. “It will devastate our economy,” Podesta said. “Climate change is no longer simply an environmental problem but cuts to the core of our well being.”
Podesta also called for greater efficiency and a thorough upgrade and overhaul to the national grid. With upgrades, renewable energies like wind and solar can be distributed through the grid system.
The panel, moderated by The New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin, were representatives of some the best and brightest people working in energy conservation and public policy today. Susan Anderson, director of the Office of Sustainable Development in Portland, Oregon, has instituted sustainable practices in that city for more than a decade. Ashok Gupta is the air and energy program director at the National Resources Defense Council. Kenny Esser is New Jersey Governor John Corzine’s energy policy director and is revising the state’s Energy Master Plan (which he claimed that no one had looked at since 1995). James T. Gallaher is the chairman of New York City’s Energy Policy Task Force and advises and implements energy recommendation in PlaNYC. Max Schultz’s work at the Manhattan Institute concerns the practical application of free-market forces in energy matters, particularly in the intersection of energy, the economy and the environment, which as Revkin said, “Boy, that intersection is a very spirited place these days.”
Schultz said energy efficiency was a wonderful thing, but was puzzled by how it could keep consumption down. “Lowering the price of driving encourages people to drive more. If you really want to make a dent in oil consumption,” he said, “mandate that cars and trucks get five miles per gallon. People will drive a whole lot less.” There were a few audible gasps in the audience. But Revkin said the idea has merit, citing Jevons Paradox, the idea that if resources are more efficient, hence cheaper, people will consume more. No one else on the panel wanted to agree with Schultz. While it is tough to argue that increased CAFÉ standards leads to less driving, they maintain that reduced energy consumption in buildings is a net reduction in consumption. But not all policy analysts agree with that statement, their thesis being that money saved in one area leads to consumption in others. Conrad Schmidt of the Canadian Work Less Party, has an excellent film, Workers of the World Relax, that nicely illustrates this point.
Schultz also maintained that nuclear, not renewable, energy was the answer to rising energy costs and consumption and called for new plant construction. Gupta said that more investors are interested in solar and wind energy because there is much less risk.
Esser said that New Jersey is experiencing growth in peak demand of energy consumption at a rate of 1½ percent a year. This requires increased infrastructure and power lines. Yet at the same time, their goal is to reduce energy consumption 20 percent by 2020. “Our primary goal is energy efficiency. It’s the most cost effective way to meet the energy challenge.”
Anderson has been working with Portland’s City Council since 1993 to increase energy efficiency and they have cut greenhouse gas emission by 14 percent, despite a huge population growth. “We’re back to 1990 levels,” she said. “But the rest of the U.S. is up by 16 percent.” She attributed this to local government and businesses understanding the connection between transportation and land use and energy efficiency combined with renewable resources like wind and solar. She also said that five percent of workers in Portland commute by bike, up from two percent four years ago. “Now it’s cool to come to work with a bike outfit on and have helmet hair,” she said.
Gallagher, who has worked for the Mayor’s office on PlaNYC (pronounced Plan YC) since December, said that the city has very aggressive goals—a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2017. The state’s goal is 15 percent by 2015. This year alone, they have increased efficiency in police stations, firehouses and even installed LED lighting on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Gupta said the federal government has not been receptive to energy policy development, but state and local governments and business leaders are very active. “We are at least 10 if not 20 years behind,” he said. “We really need to scale up because we’ve lot a lot of time.”—Sherry Mazzocchi
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