Congressman Sander Levin

Building Clean Energy Economy

Congress is working to increase investments in clean energy, energy efficiency and emerging technologies, and to limit carbon pollution. The goal is to set a new direction on energy that will create jobs here at home, curb our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of energy and reduce the carbon pollution that causes global warming. Done the right way, I believe that moving to a clean energy economy will create thousands of new jobs for Michigan.

The U.S. is sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. We have a larger wind energy resource than any other nation in the world. Michigan is actually one of the more windy states in the country, but the key advantages our state brings to the table is our manufacturing base and skilled workforce. Each wind turbine and tower contains between 220 and 400 tons of steel and a myriad of moving parts. Producing the steel and especially the many machine-tooled parts for wind turbines means jobs and a reinvigorated U.S. manufacturing sector.

According to a 2008 study by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. could generate 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2030. The U.S. wind power industry already employs about 85,000 people today and is growing rapidly. Our economy also stands to benefit from the growth of other sources of renewable energy, including solar, biomass, and geothermal.

Increasing the use of renewable energy is not without challenges; for example, it will require the U.S. to modernize its electricity grid and build additional transmission lines, but this too will create jobs and grow the economy.

I have cosponsored legislation [H.R. 890] that calls for increasing our nation’s use of renewable electricity to 25 percent by the year 2025. A number of states, including Michigan, have adopted renewable electricity requirements, but the U.S. has not yet adopted a national goal that covers all states. Adopting a national Renewable Electricity Standard will create jobs and whole new industries by moving to alternative sources of clean energy. It will also curb our nation’s dependence on imported energy and reduce the carbon pollution that causes global warming.

A Renewable Electricity Standard has been included in a comprehensive Clean Energy/Climate Change bill that is under development by a number of Committees in the House of Representatives.

(Updated June 18, 2009)