Should we believe corporate cheerleaders like Jon Brien, who say ‘build, baby, build’ when it comes to the proposed pipeline? Or is it finally time to take seriously the environmental activists who implore us to create a sustainable supply of green energy?
]]>Rhode Island ranked 45th in the nation for new jobs in the solar industry, according to a new report by the Solar Foundation. Only Alaska, Wyoming, Mississippi, Nebraska and North and South Dakota ranked worse than Rhode Island.
And Rhode Island did even worse when compared to our Northeast neighbors (though per capita, we ranked higher than both New York and Connecticut).
Why our other northeastern states doing so much better at growing the solar sector of their economies? Here’s what Abel Collins, program director for the local chapter of the Sierra Club, wrote on this blog last week:
Rhode Island solar installers have been forced to look for work in Connecticut and Massachusetts where strong renewable incentive programs have stayed in place. For the sake of the environment and our struggling economy, its time to rectify this situation. The good news is that there are already a couple of new programs in place that should help, and there a couple of renewable energy legislative initiatives that could become law this session.
Even without any support through state incentives, solar systems will pay for themselves in a little over a decade, after which they generate energy cost savings for decades. For most people though, that 10 year pay back period is just a little too long, and the upfront capital just a little too large to justify the investment. As a result, Rhode Island’s residential renewable energy industry has been anemic in the years since 2010 when the State’s renewable energy tax credit program was phased out.
Rhode Island solar installers have been forced to look for work in Connecticut and Massachusetts where strong renewable incentive programs have stayed in place. For the sake of the environment and our struggling economy, it’s time to rectify this situation. The good news is that there are already a couple of new programs in place that should help, and there a couple of renewable energy legislative initiatives that could become law this session.
First, what we have:
Second, the potential:
All together these programs would make Rhode Island a national leader in supporting renewable energy. They would be a boon to our still struggling building trades, a major benefit to the homeowners smart enough to invest in solar, and a way to reduce our carbon emissions and reliance on dirty foreign fossil fuels. What are we waiting for?!
]]>