Earth Equity News

Green Investments Spur Growth, Emissions Cuts in Industry but Not in Households. By Douglas Fischer, DailyClimate, April 21, 2010. "Green investments are spurring significant growth across the U.S. economy while decreasing industry's overall emissions per dollar of goods and services, according to two reports released on April 21 by the federal government. Meanwhile households have replaced industry as the country's largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to government data. The first report defines and measures the size of the domestic green economy; the other assesses how America's greenhouse gas emissions have changed over the past decade. Together they provide 'valuable analytic tools' necessary to understand the emerging green economy and guide future policy, said Rebecca Blank, undersecretary for economic affairs at the U.S. Commerce Department. 'There are many unknowns about how we are going to build a new energy economy,' she said during a press conference unveiling the data. 'These reports suggest we are making some progress.'

"The first report, Measuring the Green Economy [PDF, 50 pp], analyzed the most recent Economic Census, produced in 2007 by the Census Bureau, and found green services and products totaled between $371 billion and $571 billion, or 1% to 2% of the U.S. economy that year. That's a small slice of economic pie, Blank acknowledged. But the sector is 'well-poised' for growth, and the agency expects the next economic census, in 2012, will show significant gains. 'We are standing in front of a fire hose of business,' said Sandy Wiggins, president of E3 Bank, which aims to redirect capital to the green economy and expects to make its first loan in July. 'I don't think there's a single industry that can't benefit from this transition.'

"The second report, U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Intensities Over Time [PDF, 42 pp], shows that a considerable number of economic sectors -- particularly manufacturing -- have grown more energy efficient over time... 'In 1998 manufacturing emitted more CO2 than any other sector, accounting for 30% of total domestic emissions. But by 2006, households had become the largest emitting sector. During those years, while manufacturing was reducing emissions per dollar of output, household CO2 emissions increased almost 13%, from 1.6 billion tons of CO2 to 1.8 billion tons."