Not sure yet how your business should position itself with regards to the American Clean Energy and Security Act (also known as the Waxman-Markey climate change bill) currently working its way through the Senate? There is a lot at stake, and both sides are pushing some pretty outrageous claims, so it can get kind of confusing. Here are the basics you should know:

The Nuts and Bolts of It

The bill is designed to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and by 83 percent by 2050, largely driven by a cap-and-trade program involving the country’s largest emitters. The bill also includes key provisions that will help the US in Copenhagen to negotiate a strong global agreement to reduce carbon pollution worldwide – a necessary step to solving a global problem like climate change.

No More Heads in the Sand

While many naysayers still claim that global climate change is a hoax, we’re assuming that if you’re reading this you’ve figured out that isn’t so. In fact, even those that claim that some “scientists” still argue that climate change isn’t real, don’t really have a leg to stand on since even George W Bush changed his administration’s position. It’s clear: Climate change is real, its impacts are already being felt by Americans in every region of the United States, and those impacts are accelerating. Climate change is happening now and it’s happening here in America. A recent US government report compiling scientific data from 13 federal science agencies, details specific climate change impacts that are already being felt in every region of the country.

What Cost Survival?

Some groups are also claiming that the cost to US households will be too great to bear. Not so: The Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the US Department of Energy, estimates the cost to the average American household would be around $150 per year. The EIA findings match analyses by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), both of which put the clean energy transition costs in the range of $10 to $15 per household per month. Lower income households would actually see a net benefit of around $40 per year, based on efficiency programs and lower overall bills, leaving the highest-income households to handle maybe $200-$300 per year in cost? If those in the upper reaches of our society can’t dedicate a few hundred dollars per year to the survival of our planet, then maybe it really is already too late…

Clean Energy Jobs, Right Here

For those that claim that the bill will result in the loss of American jobs, and more business being pushed outside the US, we offer the results of a study by economists at the University of Massachusetts, which estimated a net increase in American jobs of 1.7 million per year that clean energy stimulus funding was maintained. Currently the new energy economy is springing up everywhere around the world BUT the US. This climate legislation is a step toward getting caught up with the big players like China. Without it, we’ll be looking at buying our new era energy from foreign sources, only a slight change from our current predicament.

So if you have questions about the legislation, we encourage you to read it, or at least a variety of sources about it. Weigh you options with a vision to the long term, and form your opinion. Then act on it.

Tags: global climate change, green business, green jobs, renewable energy, saving energy, sustainable business