Yes Malcolm, let’s follow America
Governments can face legal challenges when they try to force markets to behave in a certain way through legislation or tariffs. But they can encourage positive change when they change the way they participate in the market, given that government departments are often major consumers within the marketplace.
Although it has gone almost unreported, early this month Barack Obama signed an Executive Order compelling all US federal departments to massively cut their consumption of dirty energy by 2020.
CleanTechnica.com reports that under the order, which neatly bypasses an ineffective, bickering Senate (sound familiar?), every federal American energy agency must reduce its fuel consumption by 30 per cent.
This creates a guaranteed market for developers and producers of fuel efficient hybrid vehicles.
The Order also requires all government buildings built from 2020 be net-zero energy. This means that through renewable energy capture and creation and smart eco-friendly design, these buildings must produce as much energy as they consume. In this single move, Obama has created a real and credible marketplace for innovation and deployment in design, construction and education.
According to the article, “between all the Federal Agencies, from the Department of Defense to the Department of Justice, this involves almost 2 million Americans who collectively spend $500 billion every year.”
– By Roger Hanney
