Alabama Goes Green: What Renewable Energy Means for the Deep South

Last week when President Obama addressed the nation on the Gulf coast oil spill, he chose to devote significant time in his speech to push for the development of renewable energy. Many on the left seem to see renewable energy as an environmental panacea which will replace the evil carbon-producing big oil, coal, and gas industries. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and liberals will always be sorely disappointed. Columnist George Will criticized liberal environmentalism in an intriguing 2007 column on "fuzzy climate math." Will notes that everyday activities such as the shipment of food an average 1200 miles to the average American plate can consume more energy than can be saved by renewable fuels. He also notes that new technology such as hybrid cars create new environmental problems even as they help address older ones. Will notes that the Toyota Prius Hybrid requires 1,000 tons of zinc mined in Canada for the motor, and that zinc must then travel 10,000 miles to Wales for refining, China for more refinement, and a final destination in Japan.

Thus, it's time to finally dismiss the panacea of the liberal environmental agenda. That doesn't mean, however, that Alabamians should shy away from the production of clean-burning renewable energies. Fossil fuel reserves will slowly become smaller over the course of decades, meaning that Americans need to begin to develop technologies to produce fuels at home. Additionally, since so much oil comes from the Middle East, there is a security incentive to produce renewable energies. Finally, there is also an interest in developing cleaner fuel sources which are easier on the environment and manage to preserve the state's natural wonders.

All of these reasons are good ones, but Alabama should take interest in going green because it offers an opportunity for new economic development, especially in rural areas. Last week as I was leaving Tuscaloosa, I drove through the small town of Moundville, Alabama, a few miles south of Tuscaloosa in Hale County. On the surface it may look like little is going on down in Moundville, but in May, Westervelt Co. announced plans for a biomass unit to produce enough electricity to serve 3,000 people. The plan would work through Alabama power and use Westervelt biomass.

As it turns out, the Moundville development is part of a string of recent developments to add more renewable energies to Alabama's energy mix. Many of these developments are bringing new technologies and new jobs to rural Alabama communities. In February, the Andalusia Star-News reported that Southeast Renewable Energy was investing in a $55 million biomass plant which would produce energy from wood waste and employ approximately 16 employees. Another company, Gulf Coast energy, recently built a 70-acre industrial site near Livingston in rural Sumter County, Alabama. The most recent maps from the Department of Energy also depict significant opportunities for the development of biomass in forest and crop residue in large parts of rural Alabama.

What does all of this mean? Alabamians should embrace the opportunities of renewable energy, but they have to do so for the right reasons. Renewable energies offer rural communities many opportunities to use wood waste, agricultural waste, and other products to produce energy as part of a diversified energy strategy for the nation. If Alabama steps up and takes the lead, encouraging these businesses, our state could be positioned to play a major role in shaping national and even international policy in these areas. Alabamians should take this step because of the economic opportunities it affords the state. These renewable sources are cleaner than fossil fuels, but they are not an environmental panacea. What they do offer are opportunities for new jobs in a dynamic sector in rural parts of the state.