Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is not the only one to release an energy conservation plan this week.
On Monday, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club presented its own plan, the Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia, to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy in Virginia.
"We want to show our plan, too, so that there’s another plan out there, so we can compare and contrast the differences from what the governor can do and what the Sierra Clubcanadvocate for," said Michael Town, Virginia chapter director of the Sierra Club, at the plan’s presentation at the Science Museum of Virginia.
The report calls for Virginia to take action against global warming by cutting carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2050, with an annual reduction of 2 percent from now until then. The commonwealth’s challenge, the plan explains, is weaning itself from carbon-based fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which are the source of about 80 percent of Virginia’s energy supply.
"Global warming is a serious threat worldwide, but it is a serious threat here in Virginia as well," said Town, a member of the governor’s Energy Policy Advisory Council. "But the good news is that global warming is a problem we can solve if we act now."
Although some of its measures will take time to develop fully, the Sierra Club’s energy plan outlines many things individuals, as well as state and local governments, can do currently to conserve energy and be efficient and clean in its usage.
The plan encourages individuals to conserve energy, for example, by walking, biking or riding public transit instead of driving automobiles. Other possibilities include eating locally grown, organic foods and drinking from refillable containers instead of disposable ones.
Whereas conservation entails a decreased energy usage altogether, efficiency refers to adopting new technologies and designs for energy consumption. The energy plan recommends renewable solar thermal energy, for example, in construction. This source can heat water and provide heating and cooling more efficiently than coal-powered electricity.
Taken together, the energy proposals summarized in the Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia could bring the added benefit of significant economic growth, a result of new industries and jobs created around alternative energy forms.
"We have to build a new energy economy," said James Broaddus, an organizer for the industrial labor union United Steelworkers, which formed an alliance with the Sierra Club in 2006. "We must reduce our dependency on foreign oil and declare national energy independence, which is going to create jobs for Virginia, stimulate our economy, and everybody – I mean everybody – must be involved in the process."
Broaddus cited a report from the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of businesses, environmental groups and unions dedicated to developing alternative energy, that found investment in renewable energy could spur $5.2 billion of economic activity in Virginia. Such activity could create 82,306 new jobs.
But first, "renewable energy generation and energy efficient technology needs to be designed," Broaddus said.
If Virginia community colleges and universities were to develop clean-energy engineering and technical curricula, he said, students and faculty could be a major source of innovation.
"That is where the four-year universities come in," Broaddus said. "Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University could have a clean-energy engineering program."
According to the Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia, if the commonwealth begins to take the steps now toward clean, efficient energy, it could reach a benchmark goal of reducing carbon emissions by 43 percent by 2030.
"Because of a lag in policies taking effect, many reductions will occur from 2020 to 2030," the plan states. "As these reductions continue, by 2050 we achieve the 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions believed necessary to keep average temperature rise below 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit, forestalling the worst effects of global warming."
Changing outlooks and lifestyles throughout the next several decades will be a challenge, Town said, but Virginians can handle potential complications.
"Reversing global warming may be the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. It will also be the thing we’ll be the most proud of," he said. "Remember, we’re the people who cured polio, we ended segregation, and we put a man on the moon."