cross-posted at my blog
I've spent a lot of time traveling the Commonwealth, listening to Virginians tell me what's on their minds. And one thing I’ve noticed is that the people who are dealing with challenges day to day often have the best ideas about how to overcome them. Too often we see the same old policies come from the top-down. But not all good ideas come out of Richmond. They come from all corners of the Commonwealth.
That’s why I’ve spent the past several weeks asking you – online, and at economic roundtables all over Virginia – what would you do if you were governor?
Today. I’m unveiling the first chapter of my Business Plan to get Virginia’s economy moving, and I’ve incorporated a lot of great ideas that I heard from you.
I’m running for governor because I believe we need to think bigger. Instead of just focusing on how to get through the next month, the next year, or the next election, we need to think more imaginatively about how to make our Commonwealth run better. And instead of compartmentalizing our thinking – developing separate plans for "jobs," "schools," "health" or "the environment" – we need a coherent and comprehensive business plan for the Commonwealth that approaches all these issues as inter-related.
That’s what my plan does. Even though I’m releasing it one chapter at a time, my Business Plan was developed as a whole, and it recognizes that these issues and strategies all must work together to add value and create jobs in our state.
I’m starting with energy because the current trajectory for our state and our planet is clearly unsustainable. One of the biggest challenges we face today is how to meet a growing demand for energy in a way that helps reverse the effects of global warming. And that means that some of the most promising areas for growing our economy are in the renewable energy field.
I’m not going to walk through every idea in the plan today – I encourage you all to read it for yourselves. But I’d like to highlight a few things.
In order to bring green jobs here, we first need to create the most favorable business climate in the nation to encourage clean energy and clean tech businesses to start, expand, relocate and flourish right here in Virginia.
One of the first steps is to create a better market for renewable energy. As Governor, I will introduce legislation to increase our state’s standard for retail sellers of electricity to provide a portion of their electricity from renewable sources – I will make the standard 25 percent by 2025, and I will make it mandatory. It creates renewable energy jobs, it's good for our environment, and it helps the energy companies make money in the end.
I’ve invested in alternative energy companies myself, and I know that with agriculture and forestry as our leading industries, we have tremendous potential to grow biofuels and create new markets for our farmers. When I'm governor, I'm going to partner with the federal government, the private sector, and our colleges and universities to help make that happen. Green jobs are the jobs of the future, and I'm going to work every single day to make Virginia a leader in creating them.
One of the ways we can do that is by issuing tax credits and other incentives to encourage farmers to invest in systems that will convert chicken waste into energy. With Virginia chickens producing an estimated 500,000 tons of waste every year, excess nutrients end up in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. With the right technology, we can use that waste to generate enough energy to power 40,000 homes in Virginia. To do anything less would be a waste of good waste.
We also need to work to develop other forms of renewable energy in Virginia, like wind and solar. As Governor, I will seek to site, develop, and build one or more large wind projects offshore. In siting these developments, we will have some challenges to address, such as ensuring that we don’t interfere with major shipping corridors or areas important to the U.S. Navy. But we need to maximize our state’s obvious advantages and strengths. Our coastal areas rank among the best locations for wind development on the entire east coast because of the area’s strong, sustained winds, relatively shallow waters, and low probability of major hurricanes. By some estimates, anywhere from 20 percent to all of Virginia’s electricity demand could be met by off-shore wind projects because of the prevalence of Class 5 or greater winds that are found in waters less than 30 meters deep. In addition, more than 30 percent of the value of turbine components – from the towers and rotor hubs to the transformers –could be readily sourced in Virginia with existing manufacturing capability. As Governor, I will work to establish a wind turbine assembly facility and take advantage of our port to transport components up and down the East Coast.
One of the ideas I’ve included to increase the availability of solar power was submitted through our website by Jennifer Fier of Burke. She suggested we:
Create an incentive plan for people to make sustainable development improvement in their communities. Give tax breaks or feed-in tariffs for people who install solar panels or develop wind energy and plug them in to their community grids. A lot of homeowners want to invest in renewable energy, but can't afford to do so or are holding out until there is an incentive to do so. Offer this incentive. Encourage communities to invest together- buy the products in bulk and split the costs... A necessary step will be to train and hire people to install these new technologies, which could create jobs.
Jennifer’s idea is an excellent one, and my business plan proposes allowing homeowners to sell electricity back to their power company. This feed-in tariff program will require utilities to purchase solar energy from homeowners, creating an income source for those Virginians who install solar panels on their homes. This program will create jobs, increase solar power generation, and save money for Virginia’s families.
In addition to ensuring that more of the energy we use comes from renewable sources, we also need to reduce the demand for energy by increasing efficiency. It’s the cheapest and fastest way to cut energy demand and reduce power plant-related emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change.
Also, by cutting the growth in energy consumption, utilities will not have to invest millions, perhaps even billions, of dollars in new power plants and transmission lines – costs that ultimately are passed on to ratepayers for decades.
I will work with the Legislature and the State Corporation Commission to set a statewide policy requiring utilities to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency first before proposing and pursuing new generation, a policy used by leading states like California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
State government has another important role to play in this process, by setting an example for businesses to follow, and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures directly.
The Commonwealth builds, operates, and manages a large portfolio of real estate. And just like Governor Kaine has, I will direct state agencies to examine their facilities and identify ways to invest more in efficiency and renewable energy.
But government can’t solve our problems alone. We all have to pitch in.
Thousands of Virginians want to do more to reduce their own carbon footprints and to do their part to put Virginia and America on a path towards a cleaner, more sustainable future. To help homeowners who want to invest in renewable energy but cannot afford to do so, I will offer tax and other incentives to reward communities that bring individuals together and aggregate residential buying power.
I also want to help homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient. Using existing technologies, older homes can be retrofitted with energy-efficient insulation, windows, and other devices that can significantly cut energy consumption and save money. In most instances, these cost savings will pay for the cost of the investment in five to seven years.
Finally, having workers trained for jobs in the field of alternative and renewable energy is central to our ability to transform our energy consumption and improve our economic outlook. To make Virginia center of these future growth industries – as well as their spin-off jobs in manufacturing and distribution – we must ensure that Virginia has the best-trained workforce in the country for these industries and the skills they demand. Among other steps, I will challenge our Community College system to create new courses that prepare workers for jobs in renewable energy, alternative fuels, and other next generation technologies.
These ideas are just part of what you’ll find in the full first chapter of my business plan for Virginia. And they are just the beginning of what I believe we can accomplish if we work together. I look forward to getting started on making some of these big ideas a reality.