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The obligatory political feeding frenzy got started this week. Two of President Obama's nominees withdrew under a cloud of ethical questions. Every administration in memory has dealt with similar issues since the qualifications for presidential appointments became tougher than the Boy Scout Honor Code.
While the Washington press corps whips up interest in the latest alleged ethical lapses, hope springs eternal that these distractions will not divert too much energy from the very serious and important work ahead. The stimulus bill -- passed by the House last week and now being considered by the Senate -- will have far-reaching implications for the green economy for years to come.
Years of rhetoric about smart grids, cleantech and green collar jobs have yielded little real change. Instead of just bailouts for Wall Street financial interests, Obama's stimulus bill has a New Deal-like set of incentives to build our green infrastructure [see Business Week]. The bill provides tangible investments in clean transportation, energy, water and other areas of cleantech. When implemented, these will have ripple effects through the economy ranging from data management, finance and consulting services.
The approach in this bill is farsighted. With the world reaching a tipping point in pollution, poverty, resource depletion and climate change (which are all interconnected), the super powers of the future will be the nations who lead the world in the design and development of solutions to these problems.
With a well designed set of incentives and mandates, the U.S. can lead the cleantech economy. There was a small indication of the interest in this trend this week. Hot interest in the State of Green Business 2009 conference melted through an otherwise frigid economy. The sell-out crowd had lots of energy and some guarded optimism about the potential for this area. Another positive sign was the sellout at the Net Impact conference at Penn last November where thousands of young MBA candidates from around the country came to learn about being the next green entrepreneurs.
While "hope and change" is becoming a Jon Stewart punch line, there are real signs of both as we harness innovation and our natural competitive spirit into sustainability solutions. And, if we are successful we will all win, as will our children and grandchildren.
Tim Mohin is a principal consultant and team leader for EORM's growing sustainability and corporate social responsibility practice. Formerly, Tim was Apple's senior manager for supplier responsibility and led Intel's environmental and sustainability efforts. He also led the development of national environmental strategy at the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Senate including the development of the National Environmental Technology Act. Email him by clicking here.
Long Term Leadership
There is long term leadership and then there is short term spending.
The stimulus package is short term spending.
I believe both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had a long term vision for the computer in our society. Their vision helped them to provide a service to millions of customers.
Thomas Jefferson had a vision for the future of the country. It only cost a few pieces of paper and some ink. The follow-up was a bloody rebellion, of course.
Our long term vision should include the following:
1) Government only spends what it takes in
2) Reduce taxes and stop printing currency backed by nothing but a promise.
3) Government acts in a sustainable way- in terms of it's own decisions and expenditures.
4) Ask others to be sustainable - don't coerce.
It's called "lead by example". That's all we need right now.
Bright Green Spot Shows Leadership
Could this GREEN NEW DEAL actually be a form of leadership on the part of our government? This is what has been lacking over the last decades; long term commitment to incentives to help move green technology forward. The key being "LONG TERM". When an entrepreneur has the vision but can only see into the near future for capital, how likely is that vision to come to fruition?
Green New Deal = Green Bad Deal
It's quite sad that the government now sees itself as a new hedge fund for green capital investment.
Rather than letting private industry find answers to problems and raise capital, our new communist leaders in Washington feel they must crowd out private investment and borrow the funds themselves - with taxpayers backing all losses of course.
A better approach is that the federal government should become a customer of renewable energy and smart energy grids.
President Obama heads up the most extensive non-profit in the world - our federal government. As CEO of this organization, he merely needs to direct his organization to purchase renewable energy and request that this energy come from smart grids. No need to borrow and raise the capital himself - private industry is perfectly capable of responding to a large customer's new requirements.
But instead, we have the "Green New Deal". If you want the green industry to run as efficiently as the US Postal Service, then please ask your federal government to be the next green hedge fund.
Otherwise, the "Green New Deal" will likely turn out to be the "Green Bad Deal" for consumers and the green industry as the federal government brings about waste and inefficiency.
The renewable energy industry needs efficiency as it's cornerstone if it is to grow in a sustainable way. Efficiency will only come about if private industry responds to customer needs.