Bill on the Environment: Renewable Energy

Bill Gillespie is big on the environment, as you would expect from somebody with B.S. and M.A. degrees in Environmental Science. This concern runs through several of his top ten issues. Today, let's look at Bill's energy plan: Create the South Georgia Alternative Energy Alliance.

Why pay for foreign oil or burn dirty coal when Georgia has abundant sunlight, wind off the coast, wood chips and bark to burn, and switchgrass and peanut shells for biofuels? Bill says:

“Imagine the economic opportunities if there was a whole new industry in South Georgia. Hundreds of new businesses move in. Thousands of new jobs are produced. As more money and people enter our economy, demand for all services increase. This is my vision. I want to create the South Georgia Alternative Energy Alliance, which would make South Georgia the national leader in alternative energy production and research.”

Band together together local and state government plus universities and business to take advantage of what we already know how to do (more later about what's been going on it Tifton), and fund deployment of solar, wind, and biofuels with federal grants and private venture capital. Georgia state and local governments, currently running shortfalls, would derive income from this new industry just like the private sector. And don't stop with just generating energy in Georgia; turn Georgia into an exporter of parts and knowhow to generate energy.

Fight the climate crisis, clean up the environment, and generate jobs along with energy. As Bill says,

“...clean energy technology—”cleantech”—could become the next great engine of the U.S. economy.”

Let's start right here in south Georgia!