March 13th, 2009 · No Comments

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

I always thought that Earth: The Sequel could have been better named. It’s a catchy title, but it sounds like it could be a post-doomsday piece when, in fact, it is the opposite. The book by Miriam Horn and Fred Krupp canvasses the new landscape of green energy companies and entrepreneurs, showing us glimmers of a future economy freed of dirty fuels.

This past week, Discovery Channel brought us the video version of Earth: The Sequel, which followed the road map of the book, but seemed even more uplifting. Maybe the infectious optimism of the green pioneers interviewed was more palpable on video, or maybe I just needed a mood-booster amid  dour times.

It was heartening to hear the developers of wind, solar, solar-thermal and wave-energy projects talking earnestly and hopefully about the immediate future. (Though parts of the documentary were filmed before the economic meltdown last September.)

But there was a dark undercurrent. The vanguard were clearly worried that the playing field has not been leveled because there’s been no price tag placed on carbon pollution in the United States. Coal and oil companies have been allowed to pollute the air without penalty (though within regulations). A cap-and-trade policy would make carbon pollution a part of the market equation — creating a powerful incentive for dirty companies to reduce emissions (and pay for remaining emissions), effectively giving clean tech companies a bonus for not contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Pollution would become an economic drag. Finding better ways, a potential boon.

When cap-and-trade was discussed, the entrepreneurs chatted with Krupp became even more animated. They talked about this being the starter engine, the catalyst, the key to breaking through for their businesses.

And as it happens, this week our federal government took an important step that would set up the country for a cap-and-trade system, should Congress decide to go that way. The EPA proposed the first mandatory reporting system for greenhouse gas emissions, noting that the government would need this information to guide its climate change policy.

More than 13,000 businesses/plants would have to compile and report emissions data under the proposed requirement, which would fall under the Clean Air Act and could be approved after a 60-day comment period. Those on the hot seat would include hundreds of power plants – nuclear and coal – as well as oil refineries.

These old-style energy facilities are responsible for the vast majority of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of Energy. You can sense that when you drive by a refinery veiled by smog; you suspect it when you read about people suffering from asthma in Appalachia and you see it in the smoke stacks of a coal plant.

Now we’ll get some hard data. Think of it as Our Future: The Prequel.

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