Last week, PennFuture
and Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) co-sponsored a roundtable for business
leaders in northwest Philadelphia to hear from speakers on federal, state, and
local policies related to clean energy and climate and why business leaders should
get involved. The takeaway? A clean
energy future is good for the economy and the environment.
Attendees heard from a
slate of speakers, each bringing a different perspective to the table. Alice
Tong and Bob Keefe of E2 welcomed the attendees and gave an overview of the
work their organization is doing in Pennsylvania, highlighting a clean energy jobs report
they jointly released with the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA.) The report
identifies highlights from the clean energy industry and opportunities for
growth. (There are currently 57,000 clean energy jobs in Pennsylvania and
additional jobs can be created if the state takes action to improve Pennsylvania’s
national energy efficiency ranking from the American Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy (ACEEE).)
Speaker Rich Freeh from
Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability addressed our clean energy economy from
the local perspective. Currently, over 60 percent
of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions come from building energy usage. The city of Philadelphia’s energy benchmarking program is raising awareness about building
energy usage by having buildings of 50,000 or more square feet disclose their
energy use in a standardized database, the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
This database allows building managers to look at their energy use relative to
comparable buildings to help identify areas for energy use reduction and, as a
result, generate cost savings and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Alex Dews of the Delaware
Valley Green Building Council discussed energy efficiency – aka energy we don’t
need to produce – as the cheapest, cleanest energy resource available and a
viable option for creating jobs. He highlighted that we should not only be
looking at ways to make new buildings as efficient as possible, but also be
thinking about ways that we can make energy efficiency improvements to buildings
that have been built in the recent past and will be around for decades to
come.
PennFuture’s policy
director, Matt Stepp, gave a comprehensive overview of the Clean
Power Plan and its potential positive effects on Pennsylvania. Stepp
noted that with the planned retiring of coal-fired power plants across the state, Pennsylvania is on track to reach half of its carbon reduction goals as specified in the Plan absent further action. He emphasized the opportunity for the growth of the
renewable energy sector, a sector that will hopefully receive additional support
from Pennsylvania’s state government in the coming years. (Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed
budget includes $225 million to be invested in renewables,
conservation, and clean technology investments. It’s a relative drop in the
bucket compared the $3.25 billion in state subsidies to the fossil fuels industry,
but I digress.)
Business leaders
attending the event signed postcards addressed to Senators Casey and Toomey supporting
the Clean Power Plan as a means to reduce our carbon emissions and an opportunity
to invest in a sustainable, clean energy economy. It’s critically important that
we make our voices heard in support of good economic and environmental policy!
Katie Bartolotta is southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.
