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Green technology is the answer to the increasing cost of energy
TweetWhen people are talking about the benefits of Renewable (Green) Energy, it is important to consider the real costs of our country’s current energy policy, and the associated unprecedented transfer of wealth.
The United States total annualized net import of oil in 2008 was 11,114,000 barrels per day. That roughly represents $1 billion per day leaving our country and our economy, never to return, never to recycle through our economy, and certainly never to create any jobs here. Put another way, a family of four sends approximately $400 per month to foreign crude oil suppliers for these privileges.
The real cost of gasoline purchased at the pump is roughly $6 to $7 per gallon, and will continue to rise. This price is further complicated by the fact that crude oil prices on the world market are very volatile: January 2009, $40.98 per barrel; January 2010, $78.63; July 2008, $136.32. These are just the hard costs and do not consider the opportunity and human costs associated with having so many of our men and women stationed near the world’s major source of oil.
These facts are alarming when planning our country’s future. Long term energy solutions cannot be based solely on current energy prices if tomorrow’s price can be substantially different than today’s, especially when this country only has about a third the resource we use. My partner, Jack Scott, and I, have considered these facts and committed a substantial amount of private capital to create a company that will become a commercialization engine for technologies that address these concerns. We will not allow this community to continue to miss opportunities in current and future technology trends. This area has the workforce, the training facilities, and the industrial infrastructure required to pursue these opportunities.
It is important to realize that our investment was influenced by local resources such as the STEM curriculum and Centers of Excellence at Youngstown State University, the workforce training programs and advanced energy curriculum of Kent State University’s Trumbull campus, the curriculum of the newly created Eastern Gateway Community College, the curriculums at the Career and Technical Centers, the IBEW wind and solar training center facility in Trumbull County and the Warren Clean Energy Incubator. All of these programs continue to receive a deep level of commitment from U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. This support is exactly what federal funding is intended to create — private investment, by private companies that will create jobs in the community, and ultimately lead to wealth creation which will improve the quality of life for all its citizens and ultimately create a larger tax base that will effectively repay this funding many times over.
When thinking through the benefits associated with a renewable energy policy, please consider all the facts. We cannot continue to emit pollution in to our environment and act like all that matters is the generation cost of the power. And, we cannot expect to find the solutions without making the investments today. If we don’t invest in a sustainable energy future, we will not have the capital to spend on anything else, and we will be dependent on whoever sells us our energy.
And, who is to say that the associated industry and jobs will not be located in Youngstown, and Warren? Not us.
Michael S. Garvey, Youngstown
The writer is owner of M7 Technologies of Youngstown. His partner in Ohio Clean Technologies Group, Jack Scott, is president of Applied Systems and Technology Transfer (AST2) of Salt Lake City,
Comments
A very thoughtful letter, Mr. Garvey. Innovation and entrepreneurship as you describe is not only a way to save our planet, but to aid our country's economy by providing decent, well-paying jobs. Also, thank you for recognizing the great work being done by YSU's STEM College and the new Eastern Gateway Community College.
Mr. Garvey....Great letter. Best of luck to you and much success for your company.
This administrative has:
Scrapped oil/gas leases in Utah
Banned drilling in ANWR
Stopped offshore drilling in USA
Given Brazil 2 billion for off shore drilling
China gets all of the Brazilian oil
Obama wants gasoline @ $7.00 dollar per gallon
Continues to give corn ethanol producers .75 cent gallon of our tax money.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Obama has a goal of decimating the coal industry . The result will be blackouts and electricity more than double what it is now . Guess what happens to the cost of steel when coal gets taxed heavily ? You then wont be able to afford a wheelbarrow made of steel let alone a car .
The fact is we have to either make prices high enough to make "green" technology be able to make it in the market or we have to heavily subsidize it.
The first option actually hurts the economy as intentionally raising prices (cap and trade) to make clean energy viable is throwing a wrench in the economy. With the second option we would continually subsidize at a loss until the technology is competitive, at that point me might as well just stay with what we are doing.
The short term fix is to open up our own sources of energy. The longterm fix is to let the market sort it out. As prices get higher more money will go into green energy and the technology will become more competitive in the market.
It is best to allow technology to be pulled to the market, not pushed to market prematurely. When the technology is economically viable, it will come to the market.
Nonetheless, I praise your entrepreneurship as this country needs more people with that spirit. It is entrepreneurs like you who take it upon themselves to make that technology viable so that we don't have the problems you are talking about.
USEless1....The mayor of LA is Antonio Villaraigosa and you are an idiot.
Since you made that statement provide some proof to back it up or it's just another lie.
I'm waiting.
USEless1....Provide proof that LA lost 2b because of clean energy or it's just another lie.
Provide proof from any reliable news source that there were more than 100,000 in DC on Sept.12 or it's just another lie.
All I've ever done is post reports from news agencies that state how many people were in DC on Sept. 12. Provide a post where I said how many were there or it's just another lie.
The Fix News Network covered it since it was their party. The link below is how they reported it. Read what the link says and then tell me how many teabaggers Fix Noise says was in DC on Sept. 12.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/...
I'm waiting.
The article in the link below shows how fast the "Clean Energy" industry is growing.
In the past five years solar has grown 174%, wind 438% and Biofuels 185%.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...
Germany produces more electricity from solar than the entire United States from an area about 3.5 times larger than Ohio; even though they receive 50% less energy from the sun than Ohio does. If Germany can do that why not Ohio?
howard....unfortunately we are lagging behind China in this industry. Lobbyist paying the GOP for votes and backward thinking teabaggers and the drill baby drill types will do all they can to keep America behind in this industry.
The energy companies and Arab Oil just can't take as much of our money if we are using the wind and the sun for energy.
USA1 you are correct nothing the Teabaggers are doing is unconstitutional, however most of it is illogical and in many cases unintelligible. On your second point I guess you don't understand the strategic importance of maintaining a large untapped oil reserve in the United States (think Defense Department). As for your third point progressives don't hate America we just dislike the direction things in America have been going in America and our government for the past 40 years; much like yourself and the Teabaggers. We don't hate America we just want to fix it in the most logical and efficient ways leaving illogical mythologies (ie religion) out of the equation.
In the past you and Stan have both attacked "man made global warming" and "man made climate change", Stan has claimed that is happening either due to the "magnetic polar shift" or to "sun spots".
My question is whatever is causing it, how can being energy independent at the residential level and reducing greenhouse gas pollution and recycling and hurt? Stan has claimed that it somehow hurts our economy and kills jobs, but you have to admit that these efforts have literally created new industries and the jobs to keep them running.
Please let me know your thoughts on this issue and the questions that you have raised. I would also be willing to meet with you or Stan to discuss this further.