Looking at Europe’s Green Ways  

The New York Times has a post on importing green ideas from Europe into the US - Looking at Europe’s Green Ways.

When Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, visited Germany some years ago, he was struck by the concept of “green roofs” — flourishing gardens atophomes and businesses. He came back to Chicago and founded the most ambitious green roof program in the United States.

Edward Regan, an assistant general manager at Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, spent 10 days in Germany last year on a trip with other utility executives. Among the things that struck him were Germany’s “feed-in tariffs” — requirements that utilities pay a fixed, above-market price to producers of renewable power. Upon returning to the United States, Gainesville implemented the first citywide feed-in tariff in the United States.

“I was just pretty excited about what I saw,” said Mr. Regan, who was also struck by the sense of optimism and activity that surrounded clean-energy endeavors in Germany.

As the United States begins building its version of a green economy, ideas are flowing fast and furiously across the Atlantic. The exchange is certain to intensify as initiatives in Washington to combat global warming and promote renewable energy gather speed. Just last week, President Barack Obama moved to raise fuel efficiency standards, and a landmark climate bill won passage through a key committee in the House of Representatives.

It makes sense for the United States to search abroad for expertise, because Europe has taken the lead in ushering in the new-energy revolution. Germany enacted feed-in tariffs in 1991. It now leads the world in the production of solar power, despite ample cloud cover.

Germany is also second in the world in wind power, having been passed by the United States only recently.

Also, of course, Europe has pursued many innovations in energy efficiency, such as the “passive house,” which is so well-insulated that it needs no furnace for winter heating.

Of course, there is plenty that will not translate well across the Atlantic. Woe betide the American politician who proposes explicitly higher taxes or fees — a staple of the European push toward alternative energy sources. The United States, for example, has been unable to raise its federal gasoline tax in 16 years, whereas Europe’s gas prices are so high that they make visiting Americans gasp. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to copy London’s congestion-pricing program have so far failed.