Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump.
I certainly agree that we need to make America great again. One of the best ways we can do that is by being the leaders in the green energy revolution.
With wind and solar energy now cheaper than fossil fuels in many parts of the world, and with 195 nations agreeing that we have to combat climate change, the movement toward clean energy is inevitable. We can lead or be left behind.
There are now 4.5 times as many people employed in alternative energy in the U.S. as there are in coal, oil and natural gas combined.
A detailed job analysis by AltEnergyStocks found 5.3 jobs are created per $1 million of fossil fuel investments, and a bit over three times this, 16.7 jobs per $1 million, for clean energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) investment.
The jobs in clean energy were also of substantially higher quality and higher pay compared to fossil fuel jobs.
A recent report by Citigroup states, “The incremental costs of following a low carbon path are in context limited and seem affordable, the return on that investment is acceptable and moreover the likely avoided liabilities are enormous — actually savings trillions of dollars.”
They go on to say, “And down the line, a low carbon energy mix could account for $30-50 trillion in savings from avoiding climate damage.”
There are many plans available to move us to clean energy.
Perhaps the best is the Citizens Climate Lobby’s carbon fee and dividend plan, which places a progressively increasing price on the production of fossil fuels to reflect the damage they cause, such as health and premature deaths. The money is then returned to all of us taxpayers.
Over the 20 years of the plan, it would put more money back into the average American citizen’s pocket and add an extra 2.8 million new American jobs while rapidly speeding up the conversion to clean energy as the true cost of fossil fuels soon would become much more expensive than wind and solar.
Yes, let us make America great again! I think that all of us, whether Democrats, independents or Republicans, can agree on that.
Vernon Dixon
Hiawassee
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