'Shovel ready' green projects

Submitted by Marc Lefkowitz  |  Last edited January 15, 2009 - 2:34pm
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  • What is on the list of ‘shovel ready’ green projects that Northeast Ohio is proposing to fund with an expected hundreds of millions in infrastructure dollars from a federal economic stimulus package?

    A $422.5 million wish list focuses mostly on infrastructure like bridges and roads, but includes a number of projects that would boost Cuyahoga County’s energy efficiency and improve its carbon footprint through alternative transportation. Add another $100 million if you include the 3-C (Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati) intercity passenger rail line. The wish list includes a Green Collar job Training Program ($250,000), construction of a downtown bicycle parking station ($300,000), a scaled down version of the HealthLine (with hybrid buses) on Buckeye, E. 55th and Clifton ($50 million), bike trail extensions from the Towpath into Cleveland neighborhoods ($2.4 million), and the Dike 14 nature preserve and trail ($210,000). See the whole list here.

    Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic is also thinking about this question. Plusquellic is touting a number of green building projects that are ‘ready to go’ in Akron and wants to invest in jump starting green tech jobs. He has a report from Environment Ohio to back him up.

  • How much of a head start did states such as Pennsylvania and Iowa get when they passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard a few years ago? Take a look at this interactive map that shows the growth in wind turbine installations since 1999 – it leaves the impression that Ohio has a lot of catching up to do now that it finally passed an RPS.
  • In a promising sign that renewable energy will be at the forefront of the country’s economic recovery, the industry association of U.S. electric utilities said it will back regulations—particularly a U.S. carbon cap-and-trade program—that promotes development of renewables and energy efficiency.
  • From CNN: "As lawmakers scramble to pass a stimulus package designed to revive the economy and wean the nation from fossil fuels, more people are calling for a special tax break in the U.S. for manufactures of renewable energy products.

    "Leading the charge are a handful of Senate Democrats keen to see these manufacturing tax credits make it into the stimulus bill. While tax breaks for the renewable industry as a whole - expected to total around $25 billion as of last tally - have wide bipartisan support in Congress, it's not expected that the manufacturing tax credit will make it in this time around." Read more.