Study sees boon in climate change

Combating warming could aid economy

Fighting global warming could be a boon for North Carolina's economy, researchers said Tuesday.

If the state implements a host of strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions, more than 325,000 jobs and $20 billion could be added to the state's economy by 2020, according to a preliminary report from Appalachian State University.

The findings were part of a study that will help state lawmakers decide whether to join 17 other states that have set standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The N.C. Climate Action Plan Advisory Group, one of two statewide panels studying the issue, last week recommended a set of 56 strategies that would return the state to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions within 13 years. The strategies include reducing tailpipe emissions, tightening efficiency standards for new buildings and appliances, upgrading to cleaner technologies at power plants and preserving farm- and forestland.

On Tuesday, Appalachian State researcher David Ponder released the initial results of an economic study of the recommendations.

31 proposals analyzed

Ponder said a team of experts has been plugging each recommendation into an economic model, determining its costs and benefits. The full study won't be complete until the end of November, but so far the researchers have analyzed 31 of the recommendations, which account for 90 percent of the emissions cuts.

Ponder said the team considered not just the direct costs and benefits of each recommendation -- such as the construction jobs created by the building of new ethanol plants -- but also the ripple effect of those actions. For example, building suppliers and consumers who save money on their power bills would benefit. They also took into account the losses for traditional power suppliers.

Ponder said the initial projections show modest economic gains, including more than $14 billion in new income by 2020.

"In terms of the scale of the economy, these are not earth-shattering figures," he said.

Still, the numbers go against the common perception that environmental regulations would cripple the economy.

"A lot of people are under the false illusion that green building and energy efficiency is expensive and available only to the wealthy," said Dee Eggers, an associate professor of environmental studies at UNC-Asheville and a member of the state's Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change, which heard Ponder's report. "But there are lots of examples of the economic opportunities that responding to climate change is going to give us."

Other members of the commission, however, remained skeptical.

State Sen. Robert Pittenger, a Charlotte Republican, said he doubted the credentials of those studying the economic impacts. Ponder is a political science graduate student, not an economist. And Pittenger said further government regulation will not be good for business.

"If it's so true," Pittenger said of the economic benefits of conservation, "the free market would be doing it today."

Others said that conservation measures are fine but that the state should also invest in researching new sources of energy.

State. Rep Charles Thomas, an Asheville Republican, said the true solution to global warming is finding an unlimited supply of clean energy.

"Whoever finds that, they are going to print money," Thomas said. "They will make Alaska and its economy with the pipeline look like a lemonade stand."

The commission plans to meet through the winter and develop recommendations for the legislature when it reconvenes in May.