Friday, June 13, 2008

How We See It

Clean energy not just for environmentalists

By Mass High Tech Staff

It didn’t take a $4 gallon of gasoline to get folks at MIT and Genzyme to look closer at the field of clean energy and green building. But for the rest of consumer America, energy issues only matter as much as they hit us in that most tender of spots: the wallet.

Genzyme in 2005 won the highest award possible for an energy efficient building for its new headquarters. Genzyme was ready even then to play a part in offsetting a future oil price explosion. MIT technology, meanwhile, has spawned all kinds of clean energy firms — think Wilson TurboPower Inc. or GreenFuel Technologies Inc., for example. Its Ignite Clean Energy competition, started more recently, has helped to give greater focus to the newest ideas.

And the latest power hitter in the Bay State to get strongly behind clean energy is Beacon Hill. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi got behind the Green Jobs Act of 2008, which proposes to apply more than $100 million over a five-year period to help generate new clean energy jobs. The act moved into committee this week and several entities are awaiting its approval, including the New England Clean Energy Council, which has named its first batch of Clean Energy Fellows — experienced entrepreneurs who will receive training on running companies in the clean energy field.

With decidedly non-techie voters and residents now feeling the pain of energy consumption, the issue no longer belongs to the tree-hugger set. The time is ripe for emphasizing the benefits of sound clean energy policy as both a social, and business, imperative.