Getting smarter on energy
THE MAYOR of Baoding, China, sees a bright future for his city, powered by solar energy. He proudly showed me and a delegation of American energy business leaders the new Yengli photovoltaic manufacturing facility in his city of 6 million people. It will produce 500 megawatts of solar electric panels annually when completed in 2009, triple the amount produced annually in the entire United States.
The city of Freiburg, Germany, converted an abandoned military facility into 20,000 units of housing that integrate solar technology and the super insulation of all buildings. It backed that up with a significant investment in energy-efficient mass transportation that keeps both city streets and the air clean. Municipal officials told me the city wants new houses to generate all their electricity without the need to take power from the electric grid.
Baoding and Freiburg show Massachusetts new ways to meet its energy needs. I have spent the past five years working with state and local government leaders around the world and seen projects as diverse as methane capture from Brazilian landfills and green roofs in Chicago that conserve energy. No state or city offers a roadmap for Massachusetts, but they point to new opportunities. If the state does not embrace them, the economy will suffer.
We need to knock down barriers and create the incentives that will guarantee our energy, climate, and economic security. We need a comprehensive approach that addresses utilities, transportation, and buildings. Massachusetts can be a world center for renewable energy and conservation.
We import almost all our fossil fuels. Every barrel of oil, every lump of coal, every cubic foot of gas we burn represents dollars that we ship outside of the state, draining $6.1 billion from our economy. We are also losing our historic leadership role in the renewable energy industries, as production facilities relocate to other states and other nations.
Massachusetts has taken steps to encourage the use of renewable energy and conservation, yet our consumption grows faster than these resources. Each step forward is matched by two steps backward. We need a revolution in the way we think about energy production, our economy, and the environment.
The state cannot fund all the investments in renewable energy and conservation needed to power our economy. We can, however, enact the policies that let the private sector make those investments. In doing so, we can show Washington how to break our nation's addiction to fossil fuels.
Reducing energy consumption should be a prime goal of the state. We need an energy planning process that reduces costs to consumers, both industrial and residential, by emphasizing conservation. Utilities need incentives to capture the value of the heat that is now wasted, nearly two-thirds of what they generate, in the production of electricity.
Our energy efficiency programs should move beyond electricity use and expand to home heating oil and gas customers.
Massachusetts should re join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to reduce the threat of further climate change. We should be guided by the principle that "the polluter pays," auctioning 100 percent of the carbon permits of the program.
We need to provide incentives to businesses and consumers for energy-efficient buildings, including a green building tax credit and credits for the installation of solar and wind power. The state should automatically update its building code to match the latest international energy standards.
Too often the discussion about energy and transportation is left to Washington. Federal law limits our ability to regulate automobile fuel efficiency, but sales tax incentives for private buyers of clean cars and new rules for government purchasers are within reach.
Our cities and towns need help. The state should remove laws that limit the ability of communities to create renewable energy and conservation projects. It should help communities make our city halls and schools more energy efficient with grants and loans, reducing the energy burden on the property tax.
Massachusetts can create policies that properly reward smart energy decisions by consumers, businesses, and investors. We cannot solve all of the energy problems we face without changes at the national level but we can teach the federal government about a new way forward.
Jim Marzilli, a Massachusetts state representative, is coauthor of the Energy, Climate, and Economic Security Act. 
