Print  email 

tool name

close

tool goes here

State well-positioned for green economy

• Published April 16, 2009

• Comments (0)

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell gazes into the future and sees Washington state as a national leader in the creation of green jobs and a green economy.

We can only hope she's right.

It wouldn't be the first time Washington has pioneered an important industry. Look no further than The Boeing Co. and Microsoft to understand that this state can be an incubator for new jobs in a new industry with unforeseen opportunities. Washington must seize that opportunity and take the lead on protection of the environment.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Olympian's editorial board recently, Cantwell said it starts with the stimulus money — more specifically, the authority for the Bonneville Power Administration to increase its borrowing authority by $3.25 billion. The money will be used to expand and update Bonneville's complex power transmission system.

At the time Cantwell was speaking in Olympia, giant blades for wind turbines were being unloaded at the Port of Olympia, destined for a wind farm in Vantage. Expansion of BPA's transmission system will allow the electricity generated by wind power in Eastern Washington to be transported to Western Washington, where the demand for additional electrical resources is the greatest.

Now, says Cantwell, imagine that green energy being used to power a "smart" dishwasher that is programmed to search the power grid and start itself at the time of night when demand for electricity is at its lowest level.

And imagine that same wind power from Eastern Washington being used to recharge a battery operated vehicle — a "smart" vehicle that can transfer power back into the electrical grid if the vehicle owner decides to work from home that day and not use his vehicle to commute to work.

Smart-grids could help lower power consumption by 30 percent — making conservation a major alternative to new coal-fired electricity plants, Cantwell said. She said there is no reason why Washington cannot lead the way in the development and manufacture of those "smart" machines and the software to operate them.