Platform - Green Party US Section III. Ecological Sustainability B. Energy B7. Requirements for Energy Transition- Investment: Enormous amounts of investment capital will be needed to accomplish the energy transition, much more than the promise of $150 billion for renewable energy over ten years, and must now come from government.
- Coordination: The energy transition will be complex and comprehensive, and its various strategies will be mutually impacting.
For example, efforts to redirect transport away from highways and toward rail service will need to be coordinated with manufacturers, farmers, retailers, and employers.
An independent federal Energy Transition Office should track and manage the transition.
- Education: Community colleges should prepare workers for new job opportunities, e.g., sustainable food production, renewable energy installation, grid rebuilding, rail expansion, public transport construction, and home energy retrofitting.
Grade school curriculum should include gardening programs in all schools and increased emphasis on energy conservation.
- Public Messaging & Goal Setting: Our leaders must instill in the nation a sense of collective struggle and of a long journey toward a clear goal.
The success of a project of this scope will require public buy-in at every stage and level, including the use of language and images to continually underscore what is at stake, to foster a spirit of cooperation and willing sacrifice.
Business leaders, advertising agencies and even Hollywood must be enlisted, a quid pro quo for government bail out of banks and corporations.
Grassroots initiatives, such as the Transition Towns movement, could lead the way toward voluntary community efforts.
A sophisticated, interactive, web-based program would inspire action and provide resources.
Ratepayers should get full disclosure of the specific electric generating facilities used to produce their electricity.
A series of challenging yet feasible targets should be set, with the ultimate goal—complete freedom from fossil fuel dependency — to be achieved by 2030.