Green Energy Technology, Economics and Policy Part 10 pdf

304 Green Energy Technology, Economics and Policy

green skills and including curricula to cover new programmes helps the work force to

gradually transform towards the requirements of the newer technologies. Green jobs

initiatives should mainly address upward mobility of the employees. This would act as

an incentive for the employees to move from unemployment or low-wage jobs to jobs

that would provide higher wages and benefits. The governments could also consider

understanding the targeted green industries at the regional level economies. This could

lead to further creation or expansion based on regional networks and partnerships

organized by the industry.

In case of Germany, the Government had made ambitious plans to strengthen their

laws relating to renewable energy. As a result of some minor changes in their policy, it

was estimated that there was an increase from 160 000 jobs to 236 000 jobs between

2004 and 2006. The UK also does not lag behind—it aims at creating 1 million new

green jobs, primarily in the field of manufacturing green energy sector over the next

ten years. The report on Green Jobs in Australia also estimates that there will be at

least 2.7 million new jobs created by 2025, most of them green jobs in Australia if

the steps were taken towards making Australia carbon-neutral by 2050 (Australian

Conservation Foundation, 2008).

In June 2009, the US House of Representatives passed the Clean Energy and Security

Act 2009 which is very comprehensive in addressing various issues relating to transition

to a green economy. This is considered a “real attempt’’ for a national carbon reduction

plan. It also address the employment issues by supporting development of a “clean

energy’’ curriculum, additional funding for the worker training programme and climate

change worker adjustment assistance to enable smooth transition (Alliance to Save

Energy, 2009). The growth of renewable energy and green energy sources in developing

countries is also expected to create employment in those countries and elsewhere as

the newer and emerging technologies are expected.

23.7 SOC IAL SECURITY

When a decision is taken towards transition to green economy, the issue of social

security comes up. Will these new measures render some people to lose their livelihoods,

their jobs or – make their lives comparitively more difficult? The implementation of

green energy directives entails heavy investments in their new energy-efficient houses?

These are a few questions that are often raised by the citizenry. Since the general process

of consultation is absent in energy policy making, people tend to have more questions.

Therefore, the government has to address the issue in its totality. Any comprehensive

energy policy cannot be formulated excluding the other dependant factors. It has to be

an integrated approach covering aspects not only of economics or environment but also

should incorporate social security, technology promotion, education and awareness.

Some countries, especially the developing countries have a tendency to offer at least

one form of energy at a subsidy. This is below the prevailing price in the market. There

needs to be a focus on ways to reduce these subsidies. This requires bold political

decisions and creating awareness among the people helps to mitigate the hard effects

on the political fortunes of the political party in the government. There cannot be a

knee-jerk reaction but these subsidies can be gradually minimized according to the

respective state’s domestic conditions and requirement.

Ways of “greening the economy’’ 305

One of the initiatives that gained political support from various countries at the

Copenhagen Summit (2009) was the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest

Degradation (REDD) programme. This is a community involvement programme that

has a potential to go a long way in not only reducing the climate change effect but also

help support local communities. REDD programme involves supporting developing

countries to conserve rather than clear tropical forests. This could help in overcoming

poverty among the communities by providing them incentives for their greening and

conservation efforts. The UNEP Year Book estimates that investing $22 billion to $29

billion in REDD could cut global deforestation by 25 per cent by 2015 (UNEP, 2010).

Much of the social security issues could be properly addressed when there is a

common idea driving the policy-mechanism. The issues like climate change, local

environmental protection, economic development, health, employment, and energy

security all need a comprehensive integration. When the common points are identi￾fied, they could be linked up to work towards a common goal. Hence, there needs to

be an intensive consultation process with various groups and a successful policy is that

which evolves from such an inclusive mechanism, that seeks to minimize the drastic

changes that come with such a policy.

23.8 EDUCAT ION AND OUTREACH

Educating the people about the advantages of switching to green measures or encour￾aging them to adopt such measures goes a long way in mobilizing the public opinion

in favour of positive action. Energy Policy had been exclusively been in the domain

of ‘technocrats’ and ‘specialists.’ However, bold policies can be taken only when the

policy makers enjoy the support of the people. Hence involving more public participa￾tion, creating platforms for debates to hear different views and eliciting the opinions of

the people are crucial. Any green energy approach that does not have an integral educa￾tion and training is likely to fail. Therefore education can be considered a prerequisite

for the success of a sustainable energy program.

This area had been generally overlooked as it is assumed that the general public is

not interested in energy related issues nor has idea about complex technical issues. A

study done by Vachon and Menz on the potential influence of a state’s particular social,

political, and economic interests on its propensity to adopt green electricity policies

showed some interesting results. Using an empirical model that combined various

social, political and economic indicators as explanatory variables of a state’s likelihood

to adopt four specific green electricity policies. They concluded that social interests,

measured by the level of income, the level of education, and the degree of participation

in environmental lobbying groups, were positively linked to the adoption of green

electricity policies. Similarly, political interests as measured by the pro-environment

voting by states’ representatives in the U.S. Congress, also play a positive role in the

adoption of such policies (Vachon and Menz, 2006). Therefore education cannot be

underplayed in this crucial area.

One of the problems in energy policy making is looking at the issue entirely from an

economic perspective. People are seen as a “Demand’’ while the energy companies are

seen as “Supply’’. The whole energy policy had been built up on this distinction. This

could be a good model to evaluate the energy policy in terms of economy. But this also