Gov. Timothy M. Kaine climbs a ladder and screws an energy-efficient light bulb into a fixture. "How many governors does it take to screw a light bulb?" he asks a room of reporters.
This was the scene Wednesday at the School of Engineering Building, after Kaine released a comprehensive Virginia Energy Plan.
The 10-year plan, which the 2006 General Assembly mandated, outlines energy conservation and efficiency measures that strive for a 40 percent reduction in energy use, a 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gases and a 20 percent increase of energy produced in Virginia.
"This plan is not just a plan for people who sit in offices as policymakers," Kaine said. "We want it to be a plan with practical suggestions that would give us some guidelines, so we can reach out to consumers and help them make wise decisions about energy, especially conservation."
Energy independence, achieved through conservation and a 20 percent increase of in-state energy production, as well as broadened public awareness about energy issues, is among the goals that set the plan’s framework. The plan also recommends the creation of a Climate Change Commission, which would assist in achieving another goal: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025, thus returning them to 2000 levels.
Kaine said he wants to "capitalize on areas where Virginia has a strategic advantage for economic development, and research and development," namely biofuels, nuclear technology, coastal energy production, and carbon capture and storage.
To reach this goal, the plan suggests increasing spending by $10 million a year on research and development at Virginia universities, colleges and research institutions. Half of the money would come from state resources, and the other half would come from private and federal resources.
The plan lists VCU as a major research leader, with current or potential national prominence in such energyrelated areas as fuel cells and hydrogen, energy efficiency and conservation, and photovoltaics.
Francis Macrina, VCU vice president for research, said the university is a small city of 48,000 students, faculty and staff.
"As that small city," he said, "we take a serious view of energy and energy conservation."
Macrina said VCU is making substantial improvement in its consumption of energy, in keeping with the VCU Energy Challenge, an effort dedicated to reducing the energy necessary to operate the university. For example, VCU is installing mechanisms that will conserve energy and water in 15 campus buildings. The university hopes to save $2 million in utility costs as a result.
"VCU is deeply committed to making Richmond and Virginia a better and cleaner environment. I think this is clearly affirmed in our recycling, our renovation and retrofitting, our construction and in our research," Macrina said. "Our city within a city is striving to be today’s stewards of tomorrow’s environment and natural resources."
Commending VCU’s accomplishments, Stephen Walz, senior advisor for energy policy to the governor, presented the university with 1,800 electricity-saving compact fluorescent bulbs for installation on campus. The commonwealth recently purchased 27,000 of the bulbs to replace incandescent bulbs in state facilities, and it will distribute 20,000 additional compact fluorescent bulbs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7 at the State Fair of Virginia.
A number of conservationists and environmentalists have applauded the governor’s plan, but Nathan Lott, director of the Virginia Conservation Network, a statewide coalition of environmental and conservation organizations, said it is only the beginning for transforming energy policy.
"We would probably be hesitant to say it’s enough, but we do think it’s a significant first step, in that it has one of the first official state documents and one of the governor’s first significant statements on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
Others, such as Grace Howard, president of the Sierra Student Coalition at VCU, are not so pleased.
"It’s not enough at all. I guess it’s good that they’re acknowledging the problem, because a couple of years ago they weren’t," she said. "But much more needs to be done."
Howard criticized the governor’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025. A much larger reduction is necessary to avert global warming’s effects, she said. To make change that counts, she said, citizens at the grassroots level, in concert with the government, have to act.
University students are poised to lead the fight against global warming, Howard said.
"Traditionally, the campus environment has been a really, really strong area of growth for everything, especially civil rights," she said. "I think there is a lot of really positive energy (and) a lot of really positive, revolutionary thought going on here, and we need to anchor onto that."
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Virginia Energy Plan goals
• Increase energy independence through expanded conservation and efficiency, and more Virginia-based energy production
• Educate Virginians about how to conserve and efficiently use energy • Reduce baseline greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025
• Capitalize on economic-development opportunities and invest in Virginia’s research-and-development institutions