Beyond Economics

Greetings BeyondEconomics.org readers!

Prof. Robert Kaulfuss has been gracious enough to allow the members of the Green Group Boston to post on his website. On behalf of the members of the Green Group Boston – an academic resource and networking group for the green economy – we’d like to sincerely thank him.

In the coming days and weeks, Green Group Boston members will post various content on different aspects of the green economy, including cleantech, energy efficiency, and sustainability. The content will likely include presentations, articles, and shorter musings. We hope to add value to Prof. Kaulfuss’ fine site, as  Green Group Boston members possess a variety of impressive backgrounds, ranging form engineers to senior managers to sales and marketing. The common thread is a particular interest in matters relating to the Green Economy.

In addition to the introduction, I also wanted take a moment to take a brief foray into the world of politics. I don’t normally do this, but the matter is time-sensitive, and affects a wide variety of businesses and industries throughout New England.

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a meeting conducted by Jim Rubens, the New Hampshire coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Jim explained that during the next2-3 weeks, the U.S. Senate will hold hearings on the so-called “Energy Bill” (sometimes know as the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham bill, or the American Power Act). Of the various points Jim made, one thing appears a reasonably safe bet: if the Energy Bill fails before Senators go home for their August recess, it may not be taken up again until this Fall (in an election year, which tends to reward expediency over solid long-term planning). In fact, with the Unemployment Extension having recently been passed, the Senate may seem content with their accomplishments, and not push to tackle this challenge.

As a result, whatever your position is on the bill’s components (which may include proposals that would place a cap on carbon emissions for utilities, a rebate sent directly to consumers to offset higher prices for energy from fossil-fuels, and a surcharge on oil companies to fund cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico), you should contact your Senators to make your feelings known. In fact, we have four Senators from New England who are currently undecided on how they would vote on the bill: NH Senator Gregg, MA Senator Brown, and Senators Collins and Snowe from ME.

Although we don’t know exactly what will be in the Senate version (though it’s all but assured it will be less aggressive than the version produced by the House of Representatives, which would not have the votes to pass in the Senate), Jim Rubens was quite convincing in his statements that regions like New England – with our traditionally high electricity prices, our region’s sensitivity to climate change, and our abundance of small businesses involved in alternative energy – would stand to gain the most from an energy bill that integrates climate policy into energy legislation.

So, whatever state you reside in, we urge you to contact your state’s senator(s) who are currently undecided, and let your voice be heard! If you are in favor of legislation that would include pricing carbon (widely considered a critical element towards the transition to cleaner, greener energy production), you can simply let your Senator’s office know your position by stating so via phone call, fax, email, postcard, etc. Jim assured us that their offices do track their constituents’ responses.

Here are the addresses and phone numbers for the Senators’ respective offices:

Sen. Judd Gregg: 16 Pease Blvd., Portsmouth, NH 03801, 603.431.2171

Sen. Susan Collins: 160 Main St, Biddeford, ME 04005, 207.283.1101

Sen. Olympia Snowe: 227 Main St., Biddeford, ME 04005, 207.282.4144

Sen. Scott Brown, 2400 JFK Bldg, Boston, MA 02203, 617.565.3170

Thanks again! And readers are welcome to attend Green Group Boston’s weekly meeting on Wednesday afternoons at 2:30 PM at the Burlington, MA public library on Sears Rd.

Scott Szycher, Green Group Boston Moderator

scott.szycher@gmail.com

Sample PowerPoint Presentation: Autos-Alternative Fuels