Discovering the Energy to Change
By Jim Acquaviva
With reports of extreme weather events increasingly common, debate rages about what – if anything – can or should be done about global climate change.
There should be no debate: A recent Deloitte report estimates that inaction on climate change could cost the U.S. economy $14.5 trillion by 2070, while estimating the transition to a net-zero economy to be a $3 trillion benefit over the same time.
The scale of this challenge is too large to be met by any single person, organization or technology. Decarbonization of the global economy requires broad commitment to change – the full dedication of global organizations accelerated by popular support of a modern-day industrial revolution.
Change is hard. It’s natural to fear change. But as John F. Kennedy once said,
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
In 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act, beginning the end of the incandescent lightbulb’s 130-year reign as the dominant lighting technology. Many worriedly wondered what could possibly replace something as ubiquitous as the lightbulb.
The Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) was a deployable technology that began the transition. Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs then emerged on the consumer market and proved superior to both incandescent and CFL technology. Soon major manufacturers updated their product lines to LED, and new companies emerged. Investment in capital equipment and materials created a $90 billion economic boom in the electronics industry.
That 2007 law proved to be one of the best examples of proactive legislative action, insofar as driving technological development, commercial scale-up and consumer acceptance.
Today, LED bulbs can cost five times as much as classic incandescent bulbs but use 75% less electricity and last 25 times longer. And by 2035, nearly all U.S. lighting will be LED, saving some 569 terawatt-hours of electricity annually – equal to the output of 250 Port Jefferson-type power plants.
Clearly, economic and practical facts overcame early adoption fears. Reduced energy usage has benefited consumers and provided relief to many utilities by lowering demand and easing the stress on aging electrical grids.
Energy-themed industrial revolutions and related economic benefits are not limited to better lightbulbs. The largest current offshore U.S. wind farm is planned for the waters off Montauk Point, a project New York State expects to create 10,000 jobs.
One portion, known as Sunrise Wind, is scheduled to begin construction in 2023. It is designed to provide 924 megawatts of clean, sustainable power to 600,000 Long Island homes.
The Sunrise Wind project is projected to create 800 construction-phase jobs and thousands of indirect supply chain jobs – and the project represents only 10% of planned regional offshore-wind development. Meanwhile, developers have also announced a $10 million job-training investment, including the establishment of a National Workforce Training Center in Suffolk County.
Change is upon us, and it’s not just climate change. We’re at the start of a technology-driven shift in the ways we produce, distribute and consume energy. Only once we put fear aside and embrace the economic opportunities these new technologies offer will we have the energy to change.