- 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.
'Shovel ready' green projects
Submitted by Marc Lefkowitz | Last edited January 15, 2009 - 2:34pm
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