Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

306National Energy Securityroll of about seven thousand jobs. A ten percent increase in energy prices costsWooster residents an extra eleven million dollars a year—the equivalent of losinganother seven hundred fifty jobs. Every year, as Wooster imports ever-costlierenergy, the economic lifeblood of the city drains away. On a national scale, thousandsof Woosters add up to an economy in which, by 1981, over nine percent ofthe Gross National Product was disappearing down the rathole of paying for oiland gas. 26 This represents an enormous and continuing drain of wealth away fromcitizens, communities, regions, and our entire nation—money no longer availablefor more productive and more permanent investments. The coming deregulationof natural gas toward prices more representative of its long-run replacement valuewill only increase this capital outflow.Wooster is not atypical. Santa Cruz County in California imports eighty-fivepercent of its energy—equivalent to three times its net income from an extensivetourist trade. 27 Humboldt County, further north, has great hydroelectric andwind resources, yet imports eighty-five percent of its energy, 28 and finds this burdenever harder to support as the local mainstay, the forest products industry,suffers a continuing depression. Springfield, Illinois spends eighty-five percent ofits energy dollars on imports—the equivalent of losing eleven thousand jobs in1980. 29 The state of Iowa imports ninety-eight percent of its energy; 30Massachusetts, ninety-seven percent. 31 Nor do the dollars respent by local workersin the energy industries do much to redress this imbalance. Of every dollarIowans spend on petroleum, only fifteen cents stays in the state economy; ofevery dollar spent on coal, only seven cents is retained. 32Of course, this is not to say that every town, county, or state should strivefor a rigid economic independence; rather, that imports and exports should bebased on comparative advantage. There is no point paying others far away forwhat one can get more cheaply and more securely close to home. Local energysources, made and installed using local skills and resources, keep money in localcirculation—sustaining community jobs, businesses, and disposable income andperhaps capitalizing more opportunities to export goods and services for cash.Even where vulnerable and costly imports are not completely displaced, localsources create local income which can help to pay for remaining imports.Table Three summarizes the main costs which communities as a whole,local governments, and local industry must bear for expensive energy bothwhen it is routinely delivered and when its flow is interrupted. Table Threeshows why communities are being challenged to create a new economic base:one which, rather than continually eroding as the price of imported fuel andpower rises, offers a firm foundation for sustainable development. For manycommunities, energy efficiency and renewable sources are a prerequisite foreconomic survival and a centerpiece of economic revival. This—more than vol-