From nova news now
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
Article online since November 25th 2009, 19:51
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
By Stephen Hawboldt
Over the next few years, Nova Scotians will be required to make some tough decisions on energy. The Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, unanimously endorsed in the Legislative Assembly in April 2007, sets very aggressive environmental preformance targets for the province.
With respect to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be 10 per cent below 1990 levels in only 11 years in 2020. Air quality targets require that nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions must be drastically reduced in a similar time frame. To learn more about the Act and progress in achieving the goals, visit: secondnature.gov.ns.ca
Obviously achieving these goals means, among other things, a sharp reduction in use of coal to generate the electricity we require. The Act stipulates that 18.5 per cent of the energy generated in the province will come from renewable sources by 2013.
Reports indicate that Nova Scotia Power is on track to achieve these targets using hydro, wind, solar, tidal, and biomass. Over the next few years, Nova Scotians are going to need to make some very tough choices with difficult tradeoffs.
Jamie Simpson, a professional forester associated Ecology Action Centre, recently toured a biomass harvest site in Upper Musquodoboit. The site is operated by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp., Pictou County, a company certified by Sustainable Forest Initiative for its sustainable forestry methods.
In an e-mail alert, Simpson declares, “I have never seen such destructive forestry.” He added, “not only was the forest cover completely removed, but even the forest floor was destroyed over most of the harvest area.” The photographs accompanying the alert bear witness to the destruction.
If this is an example of biomass harvesting for electrical generation, these harvest sites are tomorrow’s deserts. The sites are virtual wastelands devoid of anything that could support any life for many decades.
Tidal power is also surrounded by some very serious scientific questions. Dr. Mike Dadswell, an eminent marine biologists associated with Acadia University, is one of several prominent researchers who are concerned about the impact of the ocean floor turbines on fish stocks. They fear wholesale destruction of these resources.
Wind energy also faces very serious questions about noise, public health, and impacts on wildlife. A small wind turbine proposed for Sable Island to meet power needs on the island could not go forward because of its potential impact on wildlife.
Large scale solar is largely untested in the Maritimes. There is very little, if any, traditional hydro available in the province. Nuclear generation has very serious questions arising from the radioactive wastes created and public health questions.
Energy conservation presents some real opportunities that will be rewarded with significant economic gains. These savings are not enough to reach the required targets.
The targets are conservative if the threats of climate change are to be managed. If anything, the reduction targets for greenhouse gases will likely have to be increased.
Over the next three to five years, the energy future of Nova Scotia will need to be decided. Citizens will face some very tough questions and difficult tradeoffs.
STEPHEN HAWBOLDT is with Clean Annapolis River Project and writes a weekly column for The Annapolis County Spectator. Comments are always welcome and can be addressed to stephenhawboldt@annapolisriver.ca
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Invitation to Write Letters
From blog owner: North American health care systems appear to be in disarray. No one seems to be getting the health care they need or deserve. Canada has a "universal" health care system where health care is supposed to be provided "free" (through our taxes and premiums) to every citizen. Every worker in the health care system is needed to keep it functioning and to provide health care to those who need it, even in rural areas.
You can appreciate the devastating loss of a nursep. to a rather remote area where it may take up to two hours or more to get to a hospital or see a doctor. If you wish to read more on the issue, please read related posts on this blog. If you feel the urge to write out of empathy and compassion for the nurse practioner and the rural residents she served, please make your views known to the individual mentioned below. I am sure those of you all over Canada and all over the world as well can relate.
Thanks. From these remote communities.
The Minister of Health for Nova Scotia , I am sure, wants to know what your
thoughts are on the subject, and I am sure equally glad to hear from people
not just all over the province (and she is probably getting a lot of those
after the wonderful Editorial in todays Provincial paper) but just as much,
I am sure, from friends and former residents of this beautiful province
everywhere.(You can find that editorial also on the blog above.)
Maureen MacDonald health.minister@gov.ns.ca
Dan Mills
You can appreciate the devastating loss of a nursep. to a rather remote area where it may take up to two hours or more to get to a hospital or see a doctor. If you wish to read more on the issue, please read related posts on this blog. If you feel the urge to write out of empathy and compassion for the nurse practioner and the rural residents she served, please make your views known to the individual mentioned below. I am sure those of you all over Canada and all over the world as well can relate.
Thanks. From these remote communities.
The Minister of Health for Nova Scotia , I am sure, wants to know what your
thoughts are on the subject, and I am sure equally glad to hear from people
not just all over the province (and she is probably getting a lot of those
after the wonderful Editorial in todays Provincial paper) but just as much,
I am sure, from friends and former residents of this beautiful province
everywhere.(You can find that editorial also on the blog above.)
Maureen MacDonald health.minister@gov.ns.ca
Dan Mills
Health Care Travesty: Dan Mills
Subject: Save Our Nurse
Honorable Maureen MacDonald
Minister of Health
Nova Scotia Legislature
Halifax N.S.
Honorable and Dear Minister:
An atrocious deed has befallen the people of Digby Neck and Islands, in fact a truly wanton act of revenge towards them that one would never expect in a democracy such as ours, known world wide as the best country in the world -bar none- for love of neighbor and immeasurable kindness and hospitality one to the other, and always known for walking the extra mile.
The SWDHA has besmeared our reputation with that, the likes of which I have never seen in my three score plus ten and more, by signaling the equivalent of a death warrant upon people dating roots here fifteen generations, and perhaps even more, by what I see as a calculated depravation of consistent and basic health care. This Board is punishing a people and maybe with an act of spite!
This obviously incompetent, insensitive, and uncaring board have all but crippled Health Care in this area
leaving fifteen hundred people on the Islands, and hundreds more along the Neck, without the semblance of basic and ongoing care in the person of a much-loved Nurse Practitioner because she has refused to confess her sin manifested in an act of care and concern about dwindling resources in her clinic.
A pompous ass alone would exact such signed confession to be posted on the clinic door and on newspaper spreads across a Province. No man with heart would be so insecure, inhumane, and callous as to do that to the Nurse in question,or to any other nurse, and in so doing,break the communal heart of a people because that same agent of pomposity doesn't trust their judgment.
Some speak the name of CEO as pomposity personified.If this is the best that he can do, and the issue of employer and employee is no longer extant, the same is now in your corral, and it's time to put him out to pasture.And while you're at it,send the rest of the herd with him for had they had the courage,they would never have allowed this hideous piece of tripe to be uttered from his mouth.
Get a grip,Ms.MacDonald. This is the peoples province and not that of likely much overpaid bureaucrats.The people expect better. We demand it!
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4,Digby NS
BOV 1AO
902-245-5171
Honorable Maureen MacDonald
Minister of Health
Nova Scotia Legislature
Halifax N.S.
Honorable and Dear Minister:
An atrocious deed has befallen the people of Digby Neck and Islands, in fact a truly wanton act of revenge towards them that one would never expect in a democracy such as ours, known world wide as the best country in the world -bar none- for love of neighbor and immeasurable kindness and hospitality one to the other, and always known for walking the extra mile.
The SWDHA has besmeared our reputation with that, the likes of which I have never seen in my three score plus ten and more, by signaling the equivalent of a death warrant upon people dating roots here fifteen generations, and perhaps even more, by what I see as a calculated depravation of consistent and basic health care. This Board is punishing a people and maybe with an act of spite!
This obviously incompetent, insensitive, and uncaring board have all but crippled Health Care in this area
leaving fifteen hundred people on the Islands, and hundreds more along the Neck, without the semblance of basic and ongoing care in the person of a much-loved Nurse Practitioner because she has refused to confess her sin manifested in an act of care and concern about dwindling resources in her clinic.
A pompous ass alone would exact such signed confession to be posted on the clinic door and on newspaper spreads across a Province. No man with heart would be so insecure, inhumane, and callous as to do that to the Nurse in question,or to any other nurse, and in so doing,break the communal heart of a people because that same agent of pomposity doesn't trust their judgment.
Some speak the name of CEO as pomposity personified.If this is the best that he can do, and the issue of employer and employee is no longer extant, the same is now in your corral, and it's time to put him out to pasture.And while you're at it,send the rest of the herd with him for had they had the courage,they would never have allowed this hideous piece of tripe to be uttered from his mouth.
Get a grip,Ms.MacDonald. This is the peoples province and not that of likely much overpaid bureaucrats.The people expect better. We demand it!
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4,Digby NS
BOV 1AO
902-245-5171
Dan Mills on Nurse Practioner Issue
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:28 AM
Subject: Recall Nurse Practitioner
Dear Editor:
In response to your poignant editorial this morning:
A departed friend many years ago saw conspiracy at every corner. He would have a field day with this Nurse Practitioner episode on Digby Neck and Islands, and the way people here have been treated in recent years by our elected politicians overall.
I mentioned to some friends yesterday that this makes the Age of the Scarlet Letter of years gone by look civilized. The DHA of this day is so much more cruel than they because this is an issue about the very health and well-being of a people, and transends any other issue of the day in this area, and this in a much more enlghtened day and age!
I now sense conspiracy afoot to close this region down. I wonder too if the lack of squeak or squawk from our local medical practitioners - and few they are indeed - makes them part of it? Don't you?
It's not all all uncommon that "an old boys club" mentality could feel threatened by a comptetent,no-nonsense,out-spoken female Nurse Practioner who has become the much loved darling by so many on these majestic islands they call home, and where they want to stay with adequate health care to live out their days!
It appears that the caring projected by the NDP just a few short months ago was nothing more than window-dressing to satisfy their quest for power and control. Mr. Dexter, and his minions surely know right from wrong and need to act, and bypass process, for common good indeed. The common good, in this case, is life itself. "Can" the DHA straightaway, Sir, and deal with the fallen pieces in due time. Surely their incompetency is all the cause you need.And then bury them.
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4, Digby NS
BOV 1AO
1-902-245-5171
Subject: Recall Nurse Practitioner
Dear Editor:
In response to your poignant editorial this morning:
A departed friend many years ago saw conspiracy at every corner. He would have a field day with this Nurse Practitioner episode on Digby Neck and Islands, and the way people here have been treated in recent years by our elected politicians overall.
I mentioned to some friends yesterday that this makes the Age of the Scarlet Letter of years gone by look civilized. The DHA of this day is so much more cruel than they because this is an issue about the very health and well-being of a people, and transends any other issue of the day in this area, and this in a much more enlghtened day and age!
I now sense conspiracy afoot to close this region down. I wonder too if the lack of squeak or squawk from our local medical practitioners - and few they are indeed - makes them part of it? Don't you?
It's not all all uncommon that "an old boys club" mentality could feel threatened by a comptetent,no-nonsense,out-spoken female Nurse Practioner who has become the much loved darling by so many on these majestic islands they call home, and where they want to stay with adequate health care to live out their days!
It appears that the caring projected by the NDP just a few short months ago was nothing more than window-dressing to satisfy their quest for power and control. Mr. Dexter, and his minions surely know right from wrong and need to act, and bypass process, for common good indeed. The common good, in this case, is life itself. "Can" the DHA straightaway, Sir, and deal with the fallen pieces in due time. Surely their incompetency is all the cause you need.And then bury them.
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4, Digby NS
BOV 1AO
1-902-245-5171
Save Our Nurse Meeting
Public meeting notesThere was an impressive turnout today in Freeport to discuss what comes next in the battle to keep Karen Snider as our nurse practitioner. It was particularly impressive because everyone is so busy gearing up for the beginning of lobster season…it says something about how important this issue is that several fishermen and crews took the time to come and listen and contribute.
People at the meeting called for an immediate public meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss ways to keep Karen in the community as our NP. Now that Karen is no longer an employee of SWDHA, there is no employer/employee relationship that the minister can say she has to respect. What the minister must decide is this: How to employ Karen, who is already here, in a community that needs a NP; a community that has already said Karen is the person we want. There are several models available for the Minister to select from. All she has to do is act, now that she no longer has to worry about interfering in a relationship between Karen and the SWDHA. The only options not available to her is through the DHA. We will not do business with them. Period.
As well, the meeting endorsed a call from MLA Junior Theriault, to have Blaise McNeil and the Board removed from the District Health Authority. The awful health care situation in Digby County will not get better with these people at the helm. They’ve had years to improve health care here. They have failed.
The strong feeling at the meeting is nobody from the Neck and Islands wants anything to do with the DHA. We have totally lost confidence in the senior management and the Board…especially after their bullying tactics through the “letter of confession” that they demanded Karen sign. Nobody should have to deal with a bully…especially a bully who’s been given control of our health care. So get rid of him, and the board that allows him to be a bully.
It was great to see Karen at the meeting. She had quite rightly kept out of it while there was still a chance of resolving this issue with the DHA. Now the DHA has made that impossible. The unfortunate thing is that Karen has already received some job offers, and is sending in her resume. She wants to stay here. It is her home. Maybe the minister of health will consider how bad her department is going to look when a highly regarded health practitioner is scooped by another province, eager to recruit a prized NP. The minister should act very rapidly. Thanks for everyone who came out.
Andy
People at the meeting called for an immediate public meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss ways to keep Karen in the community as our NP. Now that Karen is no longer an employee of SWDHA, there is no employer/employee relationship that the minister can say she has to respect. What the minister must decide is this: How to employ Karen, who is already here, in a community that needs a NP; a community that has already said Karen is the person we want. There are several models available for the Minister to select from. All she has to do is act, now that she no longer has to worry about interfering in a relationship between Karen and the SWDHA. The only options not available to her is through the DHA. We will not do business with them. Period.
As well, the meeting endorsed a call from MLA Junior Theriault, to have Blaise McNeil and the Board removed from the District Health Authority. The awful health care situation in Digby County will not get better with these people at the helm. They’ve had years to improve health care here. They have failed.
The strong feeling at the meeting is nobody from the Neck and Islands wants anything to do with the DHA. We have totally lost confidence in the senior management and the Board…especially after their bullying tactics through the “letter of confession” that they demanded Karen sign. Nobody should have to deal with a bully…especially a bully who’s been given control of our health care. So get rid of him, and the board that allows him to be a bully.
It was great to see Karen at the meeting. She had quite rightly kept out of it while there was still a chance of resolving this issue with the DHA. Now the DHA has made that impossible. The unfortunate thing is that Karen has already received some job offers, and is sending in her resume. She wants to stay here. It is her home. Maybe the minister of health will consider how bad her department is going to look when a highly regarded health practitioner is scooped by another province, eager to recruit a prized NP. The minister should act very rapidly. Thanks for everyone who came out.
Andy
Energy EFFICIENCY, solar power, wind turbines
State working out bugs in renewable energy leadership
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jen Judson, Greg Kwasnik and Antoinette Pizzi/Daily News correspondents
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 27, 2009 @ 11:18 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON — Third in a series.
In the darkening recession, Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature have dialed back funding for education, social services and local aid. But energy efficiency and renewable energy development - promised as a salvation for economic growth - have been spared.
"We are in very difficult times, as you know, but we cannot afford to slow down or think small, especially in the clean energy field," Patrick told a conference of 400 energy entrepreneurs and investors in Boston earlier this month.
Over the last decade, Massachusetts has instituted dozens of tax incentives, loans and grant programs to encourage development of renewable energy. But in this withering financial climate, with Massachusetts facing a potential $600 million budget deficit, is the state's investment still on track to reap a bright, green economy?
The Patrick administration has set a goal of making Massachusetts No. 1 in the nation in producing and consuming renewable energy. The Legislature is on board with the plan, yet there have been pitfalls with the ambitious program.
In 2008, the Legislature showed its commitment to renewable energy with a package of bills that promised jobs and a stronger state economy. The legislation carried a total price tag of $118 million in loans and grants over five years. Supporters said the bills would create an estimated 14,000 to 17,000 jobs.
But timing was not kind to the programs. Nick d'Arbeloff, president of the New England Clean Energy Council, said the estimates of jobs and revenues were made shortly before the credit market collapsed, leading to a drop in private investment in renewable energy.
"In 2008 the whole sector started to just explode in terms of investment and in 2009 there was a pullback," d'Arbeloff said.
Money promised to some of the programs had to be trimmed. D'Arbeloff said that the Green Jobs Act, originally allocated $68 million, ended up receiving around $20 million.
"No secret here, the economy forced the Legislature to scale back on every allocation possible," he said.
Now, looking to incentives to prod private investors back into action, the state has announced plans to foster three main categories of renewable energy: wind, solar and efficiency.
The promise
- Wind power: The state plans to make wind power a top priority by building wind generators on state property. The goal is to save the state budget nearly $342 million in energy costs annually, according to the state energy office.
Under the plan, small-scale wind turbines on state land would produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 6,900 homes. Large-scale projects of 7.5 megawatts or greater would produce enough to power 194,615 homes. Whatever self-generated power the state does not use will be sold to the electrical grid.
- Solar power: The state launched its popular Commonwealth Solar Rebate program in January 2008. By last month, the program had awarded an average of nearly $43,000 in cash rebates to 1,018 commercial, residential and public solar construction projects. The $68 million program has since stopped taking applications because the state has already met its goal of creating 27 megawatts of solar energy by 2012.
- Energy efficiency: The state anticipates $6.5 billion in savings for electric and natural gas customers over the next three years through public utility energy efficiency programs. The programs would also create or save 4,000 jobs while increasing the gross state product by $2.4 billion, the energy office reported this month.
If successful, the state's energy efficiency programs would lead the nation in energy efficiency. In 2009, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Massachusetts second, behind California, for energy efficiency.
The reality
But there have been some short circuits in the state's renewable energy plan.
Evergreen Solar, a photovoltaic company based in Marlborough, had been the state's poster child for renewable energy. In 2008, the company received a $58.6 million state grant to build a solar panel manufacturing plant in Devens, creating 700 full-time and 300 temporary jobs, three times more than the 350 the company had originally announced.
But after the company posted a loss in 2009 it announced plans to begin manufacturing panels in China. The company has not announced if there will be any layoffs at its Devens plant, but it is unlikely the state will see any new jobs at the facility.
State Energy Secretary Ian Bowles maintains the state made a wise choice by supporting the company and contends the energy program remains a "real success story," with a 15-fold increase in solar installations after four years.
"That creates a lot of jobs and diversifies our energy away from fossil fuels," he said.
Neither the energy office nor the Clean Energy Council could give estimates for overall green job creation in the near future, but both expressed confidence that job growth will be seen in 2010.
Since the state started its Solar Rebate program, solar manufacturing jobs in the state have doubled, from 1,086 in 2007 to 2,075 in 2008, according to Lisa Capone, an energy office spokeswoman. The energy office expects the industry to add 960 employees this year.
But the Solar Rebate program, which ran through its $68 million of funding in less than a year, was "a victim of its own success," said d'Arbeloff. "Ultimately to extend that to a long term of time would be too expensive to the state."
Instead, the state will institute a solar credit market, guaranteeing solar power producers a set energy rate. D'Arbeloff said the program, which will begin in January, is a more logical, free-market mechanism than the Solar Rebate program.
The state still has a way to go in wind power. There are just three wind installations on state properties, including the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Logan Airport and UMass-Lowell. The total electricity generated by these facilities amounts to 682 kilowatts, .07 percent of the 989 megawatts the state hopes to generate in the future.
Wind power is far from becoming an everyday reality, despite the state's tax incentives. It would take 15 years for a small business owner who constructs a wind turbine to realize the $40,000 investment for a 10 kilowatt installation, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
With a rebate, savings could come sooner. The state's rebate for a 10 kilowatt wind turbine runs about $7,800, according to a calculator on the state's Commonwealth Wind Incentive Web site.
Even with incentives, questions remain about available funding for renewable energy projects in the current economic climate.
Meg McIsaac, senior commercial lending officer for TD Bank USA, which specializes in renewable energy lending, said investors and lenders are looking to support proven technologies like wind and solar before taking a risk on deepwater wind power, tidal power and other new energy sources.
"We tend to be backwards-looking thinkers, so if we can get our arms around something that has been up and running and there is a track record, we can understand that all day long," McIsaac said.
Despite these uncertainties the Patrick administration has urged investors to remain forward-thinking. Patrick even uses the recession to argue that more investment is needed to ensure that Massachusetts does not lose clean energy jobs to other states.
"We can invent our own clean energy future and have the whole world as our customer," Patrick said. "That is where I want Massachusetts to be."
Jen Judson, Greg Kwasnik and Antoinette Pizzi are reporters in the Boston University State House Program.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jen Judson, Greg Kwasnik and Antoinette Pizzi/Daily News correspondents
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 27, 2009 @ 11:18 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON — Third in a series.
In the darkening recession, Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature have dialed back funding for education, social services and local aid. But energy efficiency and renewable energy development - promised as a salvation for economic growth - have been spared.
"We are in very difficult times, as you know, but we cannot afford to slow down or think small, especially in the clean energy field," Patrick told a conference of 400 energy entrepreneurs and investors in Boston earlier this month.
Over the last decade, Massachusetts has instituted dozens of tax incentives, loans and grant programs to encourage development of renewable energy. But in this withering financial climate, with Massachusetts facing a potential $600 million budget deficit, is the state's investment still on track to reap a bright, green economy?
The Patrick administration has set a goal of making Massachusetts No. 1 in the nation in producing and consuming renewable energy. The Legislature is on board with the plan, yet there have been pitfalls with the ambitious program.
In 2008, the Legislature showed its commitment to renewable energy with a package of bills that promised jobs and a stronger state economy. The legislation carried a total price tag of $118 million in loans and grants over five years. Supporters said the bills would create an estimated 14,000 to 17,000 jobs.
But timing was not kind to the programs. Nick d'Arbeloff, president of the New England Clean Energy Council, said the estimates of jobs and revenues were made shortly before the credit market collapsed, leading to a drop in private investment in renewable energy.
"In 2008 the whole sector started to just explode in terms of investment and in 2009 there was a pullback," d'Arbeloff said.
Money promised to some of the programs had to be trimmed. D'Arbeloff said that the Green Jobs Act, originally allocated $68 million, ended up receiving around $20 million.
"No secret here, the economy forced the Legislature to scale back on every allocation possible," he said.
Now, looking to incentives to prod private investors back into action, the state has announced plans to foster three main categories of renewable energy: wind, solar and efficiency.
The promise
- Wind power: The state plans to make wind power a top priority by building wind generators on state property. The goal is to save the state budget nearly $342 million in energy costs annually, according to the state energy office.
Under the plan, small-scale wind turbines on state land would produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 6,900 homes. Large-scale projects of 7.5 megawatts or greater would produce enough to power 194,615 homes. Whatever self-generated power the state does not use will be sold to the electrical grid.
- Solar power: The state launched its popular Commonwealth Solar Rebate program in January 2008. By last month, the program had awarded an average of nearly $43,000 in cash rebates to 1,018 commercial, residential and public solar construction projects. The $68 million program has since stopped taking applications because the state has already met its goal of creating 27 megawatts of solar energy by 2012.
- Energy efficiency: The state anticipates $6.5 billion in savings for electric and natural gas customers over the next three years through public utility energy efficiency programs. The programs would also create or save 4,000 jobs while increasing the gross state product by $2.4 billion, the energy office reported this month.
If successful, the state's energy efficiency programs would lead the nation in energy efficiency. In 2009, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Massachusetts second, behind California, for energy efficiency.
The reality
But there have been some short circuits in the state's renewable energy plan.
Evergreen Solar, a photovoltaic company based in Marlborough, had been the state's poster child for renewable energy. In 2008, the company received a $58.6 million state grant to build a solar panel manufacturing plant in Devens, creating 700 full-time and 300 temporary jobs, three times more than the 350 the company had originally announced.
But after the company posted a loss in 2009 it announced plans to begin manufacturing panels in China. The company has not announced if there will be any layoffs at its Devens plant, but it is unlikely the state will see any new jobs at the facility.
State Energy Secretary Ian Bowles maintains the state made a wise choice by supporting the company and contends the energy program remains a "real success story," with a 15-fold increase in solar installations after four years.
"That creates a lot of jobs and diversifies our energy away from fossil fuels," he said.
Neither the energy office nor the Clean Energy Council could give estimates for overall green job creation in the near future, but both expressed confidence that job growth will be seen in 2010.
Since the state started its Solar Rebate program, solar manufacturing jobs in the state have doubled, from 1,086 in 2007 to 2,075 in 2008, according to Lisa Capone, an energy office spokeswoman. The energy office expects the industry to add 960 employees this year.
But the Solar Rebate program, which ran through its $68 million of funding in less than a year, was "a victim of its own success," said d'Arbeloff. "Ultimately to extend that to a long term of time would be too expensive to the state."
Instead, the state will institute a solar credit market, guaranteeing solar power producers a set energy rate. D'Arbeloff said the program, which will begin in January, is a more logical, free-market mechanism than the Solar Rebate program.
The state still has a way to go in wind power. There are just three wind installations on state properties, including the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Logan Airport and UMass-Lowell. The total electricity generated by these facilities amounts to 682 kilowatts, .07 percent of the 989 megawatts the state hopes to generate in the future.
Wind power is far from becoming an everyday reality, despite the state's tax incentives. It would take 15 years for a small business owner who constructs a wind turbine to realize the $40,000 investment for a 10 kilowatt installation, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
With a rebate, savings could come sooner. The state's rebate for a 10 kilowatt wind turbine runs about $7,800, according to a calculator on the state's Commonwealth Wind Incentive Web site.
Even with incentives, questions remain about available funding for renewable energy projects in the current economic climate.
Meg McIsaac, senior commercial lending officer for TD Bank USA, which specializes in renewable energy lending, said investors and lenders are looking to support proven technologies like wind and solar before taking a risk on deepwater wind power, tidal power and other new energy sources.
"We tend to be backwards-looking thinkers, so if we can get our arms around something that has been up and running and there is a track record, we can understand that all day long," McIsaac said.
Despite these uncertainties the Patrick administration has urged investors to remain forward-thinking. Patrick even uses the recession to argue that more investment is needed to ensure that Massachusetts does not lose clean energy jobs to other states.
"We can invent our own clean energy future and have the whole world as our customer," Patrick said. "That is where I want Massachusetts to be."
Jen Judson, Greg Kwasnik and Antoinette Pizzi are reporters in the Boston University State House Program.
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