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Industry News
February 8, 2019
Green New Deal Aims for 100 Percent Renewable Energy; What’s Your Opinion?
Democratic members of Congress have introduced the Green New Deal (GND), an aspirational resolution in the House and the Senate urging a set of wide-ranging policy goals to achieve 100 percent “clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources” within 10 years. The program aims to “to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers renewable energy in the U.S.”
Components of the plan include:
- Build resiliency against climate change-related disasters
- Repair and upgrade infrastructure
- Guarantee universal access to clean water
- Make “new fossil fuel infrastructure or industries obsolete”
- Overhaul transportation system to eliminate pollution and emissions from the sector “as much as technologically feasible”
- Promote clean manufacturing free of pollution byproducts and greenhouse gas emissions “as much as technologically feasible”
- Clean up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites
- Lessen the effects of climate change by deploying smart grid, maximizing energy/water efficiencies existing buildings and build new, and supporting public investment in R&D in “clean and renewable energy technologies and industries”
- Provide training, education, health care, retirement, and guaranteed jobs for all.
The GND does not include how much it would cost to achieve these goals nor how to pay for them.
ACEC has long advocated for several integral parts of the plan, including clean energy; hazardous site clean-up; transportation efficiency; infrastructure resiliency; and energy and water-use efficiency in existing and new buildings.
We would like to hear member views on the Green New Deal and how the industry and Council should move forward. Contact ACEC Environmental and Energy Programs Director Lynn Schoesser or use the comment box below.
All comments to blog posts will be moderated by ACEC staff.
Date
February 8, 2019
Category
INDUSTRY NEWS