If you're a late-comer to Cal Cunningham's "Voices of North Carolina" series, this episode is the perfect place to jump in. It's got everything: laughs, anaerobic digestion, wildcat uranium miners...
In this short documentary, Cal profiles Jim Tarleton, who spent his entire career pursuing the perfect American domestic energy source. He started out in the oil-fields of Texas and Louisiana in the seventies, saw the collapse of that market, and moved into uranium mining in the southwest. But something nagged him about the security and sustainability of these fuels. Fortunately for Jim, an intriguing engineering opportunity in renewable energy presented itself in North Carolina.
Cal Cunningham is running for the United States Senate in North Carolina and green jobs are a priority in his economic plan.
Researchers at NC State University have made amazing recent progress employing anaerobic digestion reactors to break down farm or food waste into two simple substances: clean compost and methane. The commercial applications for this technology in a high density farm/urban state are staggering, and Jim's employer pioneered a facility in Clinton, NC, the first of many across the state.
The direct jobs created by each facility and the support structure required to supply them will make an immediate impact on the local job markets nearby. This is why US Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham has included a Green Jobs element in his economic plan.
Cal's Jobs Plan prioritizes incentives to Green Energy businesses and home upgrades, and perhaps just as importantly, eliminates tax breaks for Big Oil and Gas companies. Briefly:
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Create Clean Energy Business Zones. Like a Research Triangle Park for green businesses.
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Create Incentives for Residential and Commercial Energy Efficiency. Natural (and financial) resource saving technologies often come with an initial expense that we should work to defray through incentives.
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Invest in Bio-diesel and other Next-Generation Fuels. The goal is to reduce and eventually eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. This is the way to do it.
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End the Tax Giveaways to Big Oil and Gas Companies. Simply stated, they're weathering the recession better than you and I are -- and it's time to level the playing field across the energy spectrum.
The rest of Cal's "Voices of North Carolina" series, which profiles the working stories of North Carolinians like Jim, can be found here at his website.
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