Energy future
Sixth in an occasional series on issues that are important in the race for governor.
STANDING AT the controls inside the steel tower of the Dorchester windmill, Marty Aikens is the electrician of the future. Large circuit breakers line the wall, and a digital readout flashes the amount of juice flowing steadily into the nearby training facility of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 103.
Aikens, the local's business agent, says the windmill was designed as a training tool, on the assumption that an increasing number of municipalities and other generators will be turning to this renewable energy source, and electrical workers had better learn to build and service the turbines. But there has been a bonus. With state incentives paying nearly half the construction costs, the IBEW windmill, supplying about 30 percent of the union's power, was expected to pay for itself in about eight years. Rising energy prices have cut that estimate to six years.
The Dorchester windmill has operated for just over a year, and has become a familiar sight to local residents and motorists on the Southeast Expressway. And other windmills are indeed being built or planned -- two in Orleans, a second in Hull, one in Lynn, and several others. The IBEW is also a supporter of Cape Wind, the controversial proposal to place 130 large turbines in Nantucket Sound.
But there are several problems here. One is that the pace of research and implementation with new energy technologies is far too slow in Massachusetts. One example: While Aikens was able to find a firm in Western Massachusetts to build the windmill's tower, the turbine had to be imported from Germany.
Another example:
It is increasingly evident that Massachusetts could and should be a leading global center in the energy field. The state has the technical expertise at MIT and elsewhere, a skilled workforce, and a sophisticated venture capital community. It also has a need. Icy winters and hot summers make the state's energy bill rise.
Patrick has embraced the conclusion of some analysts that the energy field -- particularly alternative and renewable energy sources, and the development of energy conservation techniques -- could rival biotechnology as a leading driver of economic development in the state.
Patrick made news early in the campaign by endorsing the Cape Wind proposal, but his plans go far beyond that one project. He promises tax breaks and other incentives for entrepreneurs ``so that Massachusetts becomes the renewable energy center of the world." He adds that research should lead to in-state production so that Massachusetts R and D really includes the D as well as the R. ``I want the companies that build the turbines and assemble the hybrid cars," he says.
Chris Gabrieli was not far behind. Like Patrick, he supports Cape Wind, though he says he could get a better deal for the state than the one on the table. And Gabrieli also has an ambitious plan that emphasizes state seed money for energy innovation, along with improved education of consumers, such as electric bills that tell customers when they have been efficient. The goal, he says, is to make Massachusetts ``the Palo Alto of energy."
The third Democrat in next month's primary, Attorney General Tom Reilly, offers a number of proposals related to energy, such as assistance for low-income consumers and prosecution of gougers. He would also increase support for University of Massachusetts faculty working on energy. Reilly, however, puts less emphasis on the energy sector as an engine of the state economy.
Reilly also opposes Cape Wind, as do Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey and independent Christy Mihos, though none of the three offers a persuasive rationale.
Healey's energy proposals are fairly broad, including the stimulation of research and tax breaks to encourage conservation. She would also have the state lead by example, reducing consumption in state buildings and cars.
Mihos favors research on renewables and, sensibly, greater investment in mass transit to take some cars off the highways.
Grace Ross, the Green -Rainbow Party candidate, would invest state pension funds in green industries, but the focus of many of her proposals is decentralized. She favors local control, and local action, such as the installation of solar panels on unused buildings across the state, and the encouragement of consumers to buy environmentally friendly appliances.
In 2004, according to the US Energy Information Administration, only 6.4 percent of the electric power generated in Massachusetts came from renewable resources. The state has the brains, the technology, and the capital to raise that percentage substantially, and to make itself a global center for energy research and production. All it needs is leadership.
