Pathways to a "green" global economic recovery: hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate

Original publisher: Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2009. LC Number: KF26 .F6 2009l OCLC Number: (OCoLC)471461266 Subject: Clean energy industries -- Economic aspects -- United States. Excerpt: ... 11 2 stantial potential for energy efficiency improvements remain. The IEA has identi-fied 25 energy efficiency policies, including in buildings, transport, appliances and industrial sectors that can be implemented at low or negative cost impacting eco-nomic activity in the short term and reducing consumer energy bills in the future. Policies to upgrade physical infrastructure are another good example of measures to create short-run benefits whilst laying the foundations for future sustainable growth. Investment in infrastructure can have a high multiplier effect in times of economic recession. If well targeted, it can also have strong implications for the pro-file of emissions in the future. This is nowhere truer than in the power sector. Age-ing capital stock in industrialized countries presents an excellent investment oppor-tunity, for example in the transmission and distribution grid, storage of electricity and other elements of the network to absorb innovative low carbon technologies and avoiding lock-in of high carbon systems. Investing in networked technologies to en-sure energy is produced, distributed and consumed more efficiently through inte-grated ' ' smart ' ' systems which monitor and reduce waste also have great potential to save money and reduce emissions. Investment in public transport is another strong example, contributing to the decarbonisation of infrastructure, for example through setting emissions standards for CO and local air pollutants and supporting 2 the switch from petroleum to electricity. Policies to support clean energy technology are a further crucial part of the mix, contributing directly to job growth and fostering innovation, creativity and compara-tive advantage in a key future growth sector. If the world is to put itself on a path to a...