Pathways to a "green" global economic recovery: hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, May 19, 2009

LC Number: KF26 .F6 2009l OCLC Number: (OCoLC)471461266 Subject: Clean energy industries -- Economic aspects -- United States. Excerpt: ...u talk about in the abstract, all by itself. The only response to climate change is energy policy. Energy policy, whether it's new and alternative creative fuels or alternative renewable energy, or whether it's energy efficiency, those are the ways in which you affect emissions. So, emissions are almost secondary, in a funny way, to the economic transformation that is staring us in the face through the clean energy jobs that we can win. Economists warn--and we'll hear this from Sir Nicholas Stern today--that to ward off catastrophic climate change--and I say this again and again to people who say, ``Well, what about the cost? How much is this going to cost?' Folks, the costs are negligible. The McKinsey Company study shows that, in the first 20 years or so--20 to 30 years--it pays for itself through the energy efficiencies to actually make this transformation. So, it is not costs up front in that regard, although there's some capital outlay. But, the savings come back to pay for themselves. But, the costs of not doing anything are going to be far greater. And the fact is that the Green Revolution needs to happen three times faster than the Industrial Revolution did in order for us to be able to meet this challenge. The good news is that America has innovated on a massive scale before; and with the right incentives, we can do it again. America was the engine of the IT revolution. That revolutionized the way the world does business today. Today, the IT economy is estimated at $1 trillion, without about 1.5 billion users worldwide. Obviously, we're trying to grow those users. But, energy is a $6 trillion market, with 4 billion users worldwide. The opportunities for innovation and growth dwarf any other sector that we can imagine. Until now, we have ceded the initiative to other countries....