How to prevent environmental issues without effecting the economy?

Question

How to prevent environmental issues without effecting the economy?

Answer 1

sysengin has an excellent answer.

  I think some people are panicking, thinking that life as they know it is going to be taken away from them.  That is an gross exaggeration.  Actually, life will be better.  It's continuing to do what we are doing that is expensive, and our oil addiction has all the geopolitical problems like wars in the mideast.  

The changeover to  cleaner energy and technologies will take time and be phased in.

We need to take  a big step and get some of it up to scale so it can grow.  It needs subsidies or tax credits, but those are miniscule when compared with the subisidies and tax credits for the fossil fuel industries.

The proposal in Congress to take some to the subsidies from the oil companies, to renew the alternative energy tax credits, that expire this year,

is a reasonable one.  The highly profitable oil companies would still enjoy subsidies even though the top 5 oil companies reported $123 billion in profits for 2007.

  What is seldom talked about is the huge hidden costs of oil.  The subsidies, military protection costs, health and environmental costs etc have been estimated as high as $800 billion a year.  That's enought to add $8 to the price of a gallon of gasoline.  Oil also accounts for $300 billion of our annuall trade imbalance.

  Coal and  nuclear are also subsidised.

  And yes, the new technologies will create whole new industries with new jobs.  

from Green Wombat

"The United States could lose more than 116,000 green collar jobs and forgo $19 billion in green tech investment in 2009 if Congress fails to extend two tax credits crucial to the renewable energy industry, according to a new study."

"In recent months, PG&E has signed deals for more than a gigawatt of electricity — enough to light more than 750,000 homes — with solar power plant developers. Such power purchase agreements can take more than a year to hammer out and the permitting and construction of a solar power station can take another three to five years."

"The solar thermal industry is in its infancy but utilities like PG&E (PCG), Southern California Edison (EIX) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) have signed several contracts for solar power plants and negotiations for gigawatts more of solar electricity are ongoing."

"The first solar power plants in California won't go online until around 2010 but the construction and operation of those projects are expected to create thousands of jobs. Like the PV industry, solar thermal companies are dependent on the investment tax credit to attract the big money it takes to finance the construction of billion-dollar power plants. The loss of the investment tax credit would hit California particularly hard."

"Navigant projects an even bigger crash for the wind industry should the production tax credit expire, with installations falling from 6,500 megawatts to 500 megawatts in 2009 with the lose of 76,800 jobs. The wind industry has been continuously buffeted in recent years as Congress has allowed the production tax credit to expire repeatedly only to resuscitate it. In the past, the expiration of the tax credit has resulted in a 73% to 93% drop in the wind market, according to Navigant."

"Representatives from Silicon Valley tech giants, Wall Street investment banks and utilities signed a letter sent to the congressional leadership late Wednesday urging the long-term extension of the 30 percent investment tax credit as well as the production tax credit for the electricity produced by solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy systems. Among the signers urging action by March 1 are executives from Google (GOOG), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Applied Materials (AMAT), Credit Suisse (CS), Wells Fargo (WFC), venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and utility San Diego Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of energy giant Sempra (SRE)."

Posted by Todd Woody

Here's a proposal to achieve 69% solar electric grid by 2050.

Scientific American  A Solar Grand Plan

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-so...

Electric cars would make total sense with a clean electric grid.  

For now, I think plug in hybrids are the best way to go in cars.  You can learn why at Plug in Partners at:  http://www.pluginpartners.org/

"Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are outfitted with a battery pack sufficient to power the vehicle from 20 to 60 miles on battery charge alone. Considering that half the cars on America’s roads are driven 25 miles a day or less, a plug-in with a 25-mile range battery could eliminate gasoline use in the daily commute of millions of Americans. The cost of an equivalent electric gallon of gas is estimated to be less than $1.00."

"Gets about twice the fuel economy of a conventional vehicle and 30-50% better fuel economy than a standard hybrid

Plugs into a standard (120-volt) home electrical outlet to receive charge

Depending on design and battery size can be driven 20 to 60 miles without the use of gasoline "

"Plug-in hybrids could give millions of American commuters a “gasoline-free” daily commute, slashing the amount of greenhouse gases and other pollutants being released into the environment."

"Additionally, plug-in hybrids, like conventional hybrids, don’t idle when sitting still. Estimates are that in urban driving, idling translates to about 10%-15% of total vehicle carbon emissions"

"It is already apparent, however, that powering plug-ins, even with coal, would be cleaner in almost every area of the country, if not every area.

Additionally, emissions would be concentrated in one location that is often away from critically-endangered air sheds. Also, it is less difficult to control emissions from a relatively few number of smokestacks rather than millions of vehicle tail pipes."

It would help if we were a little less materialistic.  More and bigger isn't always better.  Part of the problem lies in our consumerism based economy.

Check out this short video to see how wasteful this is

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

It's nice to have the benefits of our modern industrialized society, but it's also good to know contentment, a sign of wisdom.

Answer 2

The environment affects the economy.  The economy affects the environment.    Our global economy uses vast amounts of resources - oil, coal, wood, metals, etc. - creating lots of waste - CO2, garbage, etc.  

Working to minimize our impact on the environment means we have to change how we do things.  This will impact the economy, but not necessarily for the worse.  Reducing our impact on the environment requires us to be more efficient.   Being efficient saves money.  A lot of companies are introducing green practices not only because its the right thing to do, but because its makes business sense.

Furthermore, solving our environmental issues will require new technologies.  Innovative solutions can generate breakthroughs that can create whole new industries.   Look back at the effect of the automobile and the airplane a century ago, the transitor and the computer half a century ago.  What affect may new technologies have for the future?

However, things won't necessarily change by themselves.  Much of our business is driven by short term goals that prohibit long term planning.  There is a role for the government to give things a push through incentives - tax breaks, grants, R&D - and policies - regulations, taxes, penalties.  

So fixing our interaction with the environment will have costs and losers.   Overall, we should expect great benefits and for most people, a higher quality of life.