Lisbon dreaming

by: Jeremy Burton

Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 09:59:31 AM EDT

In the wake of BP more Americans are begininning to wake up to the terrible cost of our energy policies: degredation of Lousiana's bayous, destruction of ocean habitats, energy dependency, etc...  Now, a fascinating piece in today's NY Times re Portugal's "leap" to renewable energy usage.

Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.  

Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s factories and the Algarve’s glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.

While it does make President Obama's goal of 25% by 2025 look a bit piddling, it underscores a larger issue in America's political system, one that Paul Krugman discussed yesterday in his column: the inability of our nation to invest in the infrastructure we need for our future.

These two issues are deeply connected, and the solution gets at ways to create good jobs that will help dig us out of this recession.  In a previous era, American political leadership created good union jobs that built the energy infrastucture that made the mid-20th Century manufacturing economy take off; things like the Hoover Dam and the Tenessee Valley Authority.

We need a new national initiative to invest in our future in a way that will bring us out of our present.  As Portugal's minister of economy and innovation notes: 

"Politicians must take tough decisions."