The Copenhagen That Matters

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I truly enjoyed reading this piece. Wish we, as a nation, started to look forward rather than focusing on the times that have long since passed.

The Copenhagen That Matters

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Copenhagen

As I listened to Denmark’s minister of economic and business affairs describe how her country used higher energy taxes to stimulate innovation in green power and then recycled the tax revenues back to Danish industry and consumers to make it easier for them to make and buy the new clean technologies, it all sounded so, well, intelligent. It sounded as if the Danes looked at themselves after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, found that they were totally dependent on Middle East oil and put in place a long-term strategy to make Denmark energy-secure and start a new industry at the same time.

The more I listened to the Danish minister, Lene Espersen, the more I thought of my own country, where I’ve been told time and again by U.S. politicians that proposing even a 10-cent-a-gallon increase in gasoline taxes to make America more energy independent and to stimulate fuel efficiency is “off the table,” an act of sure political suicide.

Not in Denmark. So I asked the Danish minister: “Tell me, what planet are you people from?”

Espersen laughed. But I didn’t. How long are we Americans going to go on thinking that we can thrive in the 21st century when doing the optimal things — whether for energy, health care, education or the deficit — are “off the table.” They’ve been banished by an ad hoc coalition of lobbyists loaded with money, loud-mouth talk-show hosts who will flame anyone who crosses them, political consultants who warn that asking Americans to do anything important but hard makes one unelectable and a citizenry that doesn’t even ask for optimal anymore because it believes that optimal is impossible.

Sorry, but there are no good ideas proven to work in other democratic/capitalist societies that we can afford to shove off our table — not when we need to build a knowledge economy with good jobs and everyone else is trying to do the same.

“Already the green taxes here are quite high,” said Espersen. “And even though we know this is not popular with business and industry, it has made all the difference for us. It forced our businesses to become more energy efficient and innovative, and this meant that, suddenly, we were inventing things nobody else was inventing because our businesses needed to be competitive.”

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonpartisan research center, and the Embassy of Denmark recently held a briefing on how Denmark is working to become a low-carbon economy. Here are some highlights:

Although it still generates the majority of its electricity from coal, “since 1990, Denmark has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent. Over the same time frame, Danish energy consumption has stayed constant and Denmark’s gross domestic product has grown by more than 40 percent. Denmark is the most energy efficient country in the E.U.; due to carbon pricing, through energy taxes, carbon taxes, the ‘cap and trade’ system, strict building codes and energy labeling programs. Renewable resources currently supply almost 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity. Wind power is the largest source of renewable electricity, followed by biomass. ... Today, Copenhagen puts only 3 percent of its waste into landfills and incinerates 39 percent to generate electricity for thousands of households.”

The Danish government funnels energy tax revenue “back to industry, earmarking much of it to subsidize environmental innovation,” wrote Monica Prasad, a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, in a March 25, 2008, essay in this newspaper. Therefore, “Danish firms are pushed away from carbon and pulled into environmental innovation, and the country’s economy isn’t put at a competitive disadvantage.”

It’s why Denmark, with only five million people, boasts some of the leading wind, biofuel and heating, cooling and efficiency companies in the world. Energy technologies are now 11 percent of Denmark’s exports. Oil exports and energy taxes also subsidize mass transit and energy efficiency, keeping bills low for Danish consumers.

Where do Danish politicians get the courage to do the right things — even if painful?

“We don’t have a lot of resources,” said Ida Auken, a spokeswoman for the Danish green/socialist party, S.F. “We have a welfare state that we have to keep up, so we have to think forward all the time and not get stuck in the past. That is where we get the courage. And we have seen it work for 30 years. It is good business. Danish contractors are begging for strict standards on buildings because they know that if they can become efficient and meet them here, they can compete anywhere in the whole world.”

My fellow Americans, the fact that the recent Copenhagen climate summit was a bust in terms of solving our energy/climate problems doesn’t mean that we can ignore those problems — or that we can ignore how individual countries, like Denmark, have effectively addressed them. With unemployment in Denmark at about 4 percent, compared with our 10 percent, maybe we should at least consider putting a few of its ideas on our table.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The future is nuclear power (fission) to be replaced by nuclear power (fusion). Too bad so many in this country are completely ignorant when it comes to either.

[Dan J 277]

The future is nuclear power (fission) to be replaced by nuclear power (fusion). Too bad so many in this country are completely ignorant when it comes to either.

I don't think nuclear energy will ever be a significant portion of energy generation. There is just not enough uranium to meet a significant growth in demand. Half of our current fuel comes from decommissioned Russian warheads, but unless a new deal is brokered for decommissioning more warheads, that supply will dry up in 2013. Mined uranium used as fuel costs more than using old warheads.

Fusion has yet to be proven practical. We will probably have other energy challenges long before fusion comes to fruition.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Friedman is on the right track...and here in the U.S., we can utilize more renewable energy than Denmark. Imagine if we were able to reduce our current 60% reliance on Foreign Oil by half within the next decade, what that could do for our GDP.

[lostinblue 1,989]

It is all smoke and mirrors out of washington. Cash for clunkers is the prime example. Obit is running around worried about running the U.S. out of oil.So he says. Just search for the most economical cars to own. Most get at least 30 miles / gallon. I own a yaris and last night filled it up and with snow tires .......31/gallon. Just on short trips around town. All that was needed when when the clunker deal was designed is mandatory 30/gal on EVERY car bought. The power is in all these liberals hands to get it done . Just show how green every liberal is in Washington. Mandate 30/gallon in dealing with that program. They could not do that instead fly up to a big party and give away a few hundred million of our tax dollars to 3rd world dictators . Borrrowed money at that. The green movement out of Washington is a joke. Just smoke and mirrors , just smoke and mirrors. Tax the working man to death with cap and trade. It in reality is about control of the people rather than save the earth. So simple 30/gal with the stroke of a pen. No jetting around the world attending partys.Just wait for the health care bill to get read. See all the money you save. Control of the people folks. That is the real goal.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Tax the working man to death with cap and trade.

This attitude - and this falling for cheap sound bites from the coal and petrol industry - is exactly why America will fall ever further behind on innovation and competitiveness in the global economy of the 21st century. Again, the examples are on the table. And no, Denmark is not the only country getting a headstart and innovative advantage over the US> Most developed nations realize that the past is just that and that the future is not built on oil and coal.

Denmark is the most energy efficient country in the E.U.; due to carbon pricing, through energy taxes, carbon taxes, the ‘cap and trade’ system, strict building codes and energy labeling programs. Renewable resources currently supply almost 30 percent of Denmark’s electricity. Wind power is the largest source of renewable electricity, followed by biomass. ... Today, Copenhagen puts only 3 percent of its waste into landfills and incinerates 39 percent to generate electricity for thousands of households.”

The Danish government funnels energy tax revenue “back to industry, earmarking much of it to subsidize environmental innovation,” wrote Monica Prasad, a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, in a March 25, 2008, essay in this newspaper. Therefore, “Danish firms are pushed away from carbon and pulled into environmental innovation, and the country’s economy isn’t put at a competitive disadvantage.”

It’s why Denmark, with only five million people, boasts some of the leading wind, biofuel and heating, cooling and efficiency companies in the world. Energy technologies are now 11 percent of Denmark’s exports. Oil exports and energy taxes also subsidize mass transit and energy efficiency, keeping bills low for Danish consumers.

Oh, but this sort of thing is just killing the economy, you say? Well, I thought that was addressed as well:

With unemployment in Denmark at about 4 percent, compared with our 10 percent, maybe we should at least consider putting a few of its ideas on our table.

[Dan J 277]

It is all smoke and mirrors out of washington. Cash for clunkers is the prime example. Obit is running around worried about running the U.S. out of oil.So he says. Just search for the most economical cars to own. Most get at least 30 miles / gallon. I own a yaris and last night filled it up and with snow tires .......31/gallon. Just on short trips around town. All that was needed when when the clunker deal was designed is mandatory 30/gal on EVERY car bought. The power is in all these liberals hands to get it done . Just show how green every liberal is in Washington. Mandate 30/gallon in dealing with that program. They could not do that instead fly up to a big party and give away a few hundred million of our tax dollars to 3rd world dictators . Borrrowed money at that. The green movement out of Washington is a joke. Just smoke and mirrors , just smoke and mirrors. Tax the working man to death with cap and trade. It in reality is about control of the people rather than save the earth. So simple 30/gal with the stroke of a pen. No jetting around the world attending partys.Just wait for the health care bill to get read. See all the money you save. Control of the people folks. That is the real goal.

How much are the oil companies paying you to push their message? Nothing? Damn can you be my political shrill for free too?

[Darnell 8,480]

30 percent windpower? cool ! is direct to grid? or where them batteries made? Sorry, not want to make rant for 'made in china' batteries, or 'eco-solution for local battery production'.. grrr.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Celebrate energy diversity.

[justashooter 430]

I don't think nuclear energy will ever be a significant portion of energy generation. There is just not enough uranium to meet a significant growth in demand. Half of our current fuel comes from decommissioned Russian warheads, but unless a new deal is brokered for decommissioning more warheads, that supply will dry up in 2013. Mined uranium used as fuel costs more than using old warheads.

Fusion has yet to be proven practical. We will probably have other energy challenges long before fusion comes to fruition.

nuke is a viable answer. france is 40% nuke, and india is following fast. we should be using nuke, but the oil and coal companies lobby to block it at every opportunity. there is plenty of untapped uranium out there.

[lostinblue 1,989]

How much are the oil companies paying you to push their message? Nothing? Damn can you be my political shrill for free too?

Here I will spell it out again for you. If the idiots running washington can write a few thousand page health care bill then it should be quite simple for them to declare "30 miles per gallon" cars on the cash for clunker program. If they were serious about global warming and our oil supply. Why did they pass on this line of thinking. They could of had a slam dunk in showing the world they care about the earth.

[Craneman 2]

nuke is a viable answer. france is 40% nuke, and india is following fast. we should be using nuke, but the oil and coal companies lobby to block it at every opportunity. there is plenty of untapped uranium out there.

It is the environmentalist and tree huggers that impair both nuclear and coal, what planet do you live on.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here I will spell it out again for you. If the idiots running washington can write a few thousand page health care bill then it should be quite simple for them to declare "30 miles per gallon" cars on the cash for clunker program. If they were serious about global warming and our oil supply. Why did they pass on this line of thinking. They could of had a slam dunk in showing the world they care about the earth.

Cash for Clunkers was aimed primarily to help stimulate the economy. The fact that it helped spark sales of more fuel efficient cars was an added bonus.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It is the environmentalist and tree huggers that impair both nuclear and coal, what planet do you live on.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Cash for Clunkers was aimed primarily to help stimulate the economy. The fact that it helped spark sales of more fuel efficient cars was an added bonus.

And they cannot do two things at once Put people to work and save the enviroment.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091105/AU...0429/1148/rss25

Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion "cash for clunkers" program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The single most common swap -- which occurred more than 8,200 times -- involved Ford F150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford F150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers.

So much for saving the earth from global warming.