Caroline Calais -- Democracy in Americas

World Economic Forum: Green energy creates more jobs, Dallas expert disagrees

February 1, 11:08 AM

by Caroline Calais, Dallas Environmental Policy Examiner

With none of the Obama Administration's top people participating, China and Russia took the lead in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Both Wen Jiabao and Vladimir Putin blamed the world economic crisis on the United States in the annual meeting that ends today.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “We must break the tyranny of short-term thinking in favor of long-term solutions. This will demand a renewed commitment to core principles”. The Secretary-General also noted that the Obama Administration has made a clear commitment to re-energizing the American economy by boosting the green economy. “The green economy is low-carbon and energy efficient. It creates job”.

Obama said Monday that his $825 billion economic stimulus plan would put 460,000 Americans to work on energy projects. But some experts say the energy bill will hurt the economy.
“Energy is the lifeblood of the economy”, said H. Sterling Burnett environmental and energy expert at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas. “Requiring more workers for the amount of energy produced is a sign of inefficiency”. He added that the primary objective of the energy sector is to supply the most cost-effective energy to the economy as a whole, allowing it to grow and increase the general standard of living.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, one of the participants in the World Economic Forum in Davos seems to disagree: “Green efficiency is sound economics”, he said, and added that it was essential for countries to commit to reducing their current levels of CO2 emissions. “The essential thing is to agree on clear targets.. a prerequisite for creating a private market”.

Burnett said: “ Raising the price of carbon based fuels through a cap-and-trade scheme that limit CO2 emissions, might create jobs for renewable energy power plants, but it would be detrimental for jobs in traditional fossil fuel plants and related industries”.