Blog

A conversation on southern energy

10 September 2009

The Southern Growth Policies Board spent the last year studying energy issues and recently issued its 2009 report titled “A Conversation on Southern Energy.”

The report begins by making a not-all-that-compelling case that energy issues in the South are different from energy issues in the rest of the country. As support for this premise, SGPB points out that four states, including West Virginia, are net exporters of energy; the South produces more coal and nuclear power; the South uses more energy per capita because of its climate and industrial base; and the South has great alternative energy potential.

Some interesting information about West Virginia energy contained in the report:

A GOOD THING: In 2006 West Virginia produced far more energy (4,107 trillion BTU) than it consumed (829 trillion BTU) and edged out Louisiana as the southern state (there were four) with the largest energy surplus.
A GOOD THING: Only about half of the southern states have developed state energy plans, and West Virginia is among them. A quotation from the West Virginia state energy plan highlighted in the report: “A long-term solution to our energy needs will involve a combination of all three energy opportunity areas: (1) enhanced production of fossil energy sources including advanced coal technologies; (2) renewable energy development; and (3) energy efficiency.”
A BAD THING: West Virginia has 332 clean energy businesses and 3,065 clean energy jobs and is the only state to have seen a decrease in clean energy jobs over the last decade. (Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2009)
A BAD THING: West Virginia had no clean energy venture capital investment between 2006 and 2008. Nationally over $12 billion in such investments were made.
A GOOD THING: West Virginia is projected to have 10,700 new green jobs by 2038.

The report recommends the following:

Educate people about energy issues.
Pursue a broad range of energy options (which appears to be a fundamental principle of every state’s energy plan).
Begin with energy conservation and efficiency (but realize it won’t produce energy independence).
Encourage research and development related to new energy technologies. (The federal investment in energy R&D in 2007 was $2.8 billion; stimulus funding is providing $2.5 billion for advanced energy technologies.)
Ensure that the workforce is prepared for emerging green jobs. (WorkforceWV currently is working on such a plan.)

A matter of degrees

9 September 2009

I probably read more national reports than do most people involved in education and economic, workforce and community development. From time to time, I will provide summaries of those reports so that you can decide whether you want to read them.

Last week the Democratic Leadership Council issued a report titled: “A Matter of Degrees: Tomorrow’s Fastest-Growing Jobs and Why Community College Graduates Will Get Them.” For the record, the DLC was formed in 1985 (shortly after Ronald Reagan’s resounding defeat of Walter Mondale for the United States Presidency) by a group of Democrats convinced that the party had moved too far to the left. Despite its rightward leanings, the DLC recently has embraced much of President Barack Obama’s political agenda.

The report ostensibly makes the case for President Obama’s plan to increase the federal investment in community colleges. The report cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data that suggest that there will be 2 million new jobs requiring an associate’s degree or post-secondary training over the next decade (actually 2006 through 2016) and that jobs requiring an associate’s degree will grow at almost twice the rate of occupations overall (18.7 percent vs. 10.4 percent). Importantly, 1.3 million of those jobs make the hot jobs list, meaning above-average growth and above-average wages. The report focuses on jobs associated with health care and education, information technology, and energy and the environment.

The report’s recommendations are surprisingly breathtaking in scope:

Make community college free for the next two years for anyone who majors in health care, education, information technology, and clean energy. The report does not provide a price tag for such a proposal, nor explain how community colleges would ramp up to handle an influx of students in these majors. (In an earlier section of the report, the DLC notes the challenge of finding nursing faculty, who make significantly less than their colleagues working for health care facilities.)
Launch a national public campaign against both high school and college dropouts. All I can guess is that this must be someone’s pet initiative because the recommendation fits, at best, awkwardly in this report.
Reform higher education assistance programs to reward and demand college completion, not just showing up. The report does not explain how this should be done, but West Virginia’s Community and Technical College System has a new financing system that could serve as a national model. The financing system will reward institutions who get students to key educational momentum points (e.g., completion of developmental education, earning a certificate, earning an associate’s degree). The West Virginia approach is consistent with the “tipping points” research produced for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
Make the American Opportunity Tax Credit fully refundable and more generous. What is it with right-leaning Democrats and tax credits? Research suggests that financial aid, not tax credits, are the way to go. Making parents and students front money, rather than providing it when needed, is a barrier to access.
Offer states job training program waivers in return for getting more of America’s workers the skills they need to excel in the new jobs market. Given recent research suggesting that traditional job training programs do not work very well, this proposal seems eminently reasonable.

Beer: It really won’t slow you down

8 September 2009

There continues to be little for West Virginia University to cheer about in terms of college rankings.

U.S. News and World Report places WVU in the third tier (of four) among national universities and its law school in the third tier among all law schools. (WVU’s law school was in the fourth tier a few years ago, so this is progress.)
The Princeton Review ranks WVU sixth nationally in terms of partying and eighth in terms of beer affinity. Apparently seeking to add a little humor to the discussion of partying and beer affinity, the Quick and the Ed blog recently published the graduation rates of the Princeton Review’s beer-loving and beer-hating schools and found that students at beer-loving institutions had an average six-year graduation rate of 77.5 percent, while those at beer-hating institutions had a 63 percent graduation rate. The one anomaly among the beer-loving schools: WVU with a 55 percent graduation rate. (Partying schools, by contrast, had lower graduation rates than non-partying schools thanks in part to WVU’s lower-than-average graduation rate.)
The Washington Monthly ranks schools in terms of their contribution to the public good: (1) Social Mobility: How well do colleges perform at recruiting and graduating low-income students?; (2) Research: How well do colleges do at producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.Ds?; and (3) Service: Do colleges encourage students to give back to their country? Where does West Virginia University rank among national universities? 162 out of 258. Interestingly, WVU does a slightly better-than-average job of graduating students when one considers the percentage of students receiving Pell grants. Where does West Virginia University do really badly? In federal work-study funds spent on service and in faculty both receiving significant research awards and in the National Academies.

So how will West Virginia University rank in the soon-to-be-released National Research Council (National Academies) rankings of various graduate programs, which are widely considered to be the most statistically rigorous and credible rankings around? You don’t have to wait for the results. I provided the answer on 26 June 2009.

A commercial interruption

7 September 2009

I have a great cost-saving idea for West Virginia’s public and higher education systems, as well as state government, but please don’t share my great idea with those nice people at the Gates Foundation.

Stop using the Microsoft Office Suite of products and begin using OpenOffice. Microsoft may provide great education discounts, but OpenOffice is open-source and free and, more importantly, just as good, if not better. OpenOffice offers complements to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, as well as some other programs, in a single package, and it can convert files to other formats quite easily.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was responsible for a state technology agency for five years and didn’t know about OpenOffice. I’m making up for lost time.

A smart choice: Government regulation of nutrition claims

6 September 2009

Smart Choices Program The not-so-invisible hand of the processed foods marketplace recently created a new food-labeling campaign called “Smart Choices.” The backers of this campaign: some of the nation’s largest processed food manufacturers, including Kraft, Kellogg’s, ConAgra and General Mills.

So what are some Smart Choices? Cocoa Krispies, Froot Loops, Fudgsicles and Hellman’s Mayonnaise (the real thing, not that light or reduced fat stuff).

Some quotes from a recent New York Times article about Smart Choices:

Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices Board: The program’s criteria were based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards.

Where? At the household of Dan and Roseanne Conner?

Ms. Kennedy: Research into consumer behavior showed that, while shoppers wanted more information, they did not want to hear negative messages or feel their choices were being dictated to them.

The researchers never talked to this consumer. I want a big “hazardous to your health” symbol on all of these foods. It might cause me to stay in the fresh produce section of my grocery store a little longer.

You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal. So Froot Loops is the better choice.

And a doughnut is a better choice than rat poison. Using this tortured logic, isn’t a doughnut also a smart choice?

Celeste Clark, senior vice president for global nutrition for Kellogg’s (oxymoron anyone?): You cannot judge the nutritional merits of a food product based on one ingredient.

Especially when your product is Froot Loops and 41 percent sugar by weight.

Ms. Clark: Small amounts of sugar added to nutrient-dense foods like breakfast cereals can make them taste better. That, in theory, will encourage people to eat more of them, which would increase the nutrients in their diet.

“Small amounts” as in 41 percent sugar by weight? Eating ANYTHING with a “nutrient,” including doughnuts, in larger quantities will increase the nutrients in your diet – and make you a star on “The Fatchelor.”

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who resigned from the Board in disgust: You could start out with some sawdust, add calcium or Vitamin A and meet the criteria.

Don’t forget to add a bunch of sugar, Mr. Jacobson. Note to Self: The Center for Science in the Public Interest website has a nice green (just like the Smart Choices label and those healthy veggies you’ll pass on your way to your grocery store’s Smart Choices aisle) “Donate Now” button. I think I’ll click it.

A conversation on southern energy

A matter of degrees

Beer: It really won’t slow you down

A commercial interruption

A smart choice: Government regulation of nutrition claims

Blog Series

Recent Updates

CONTACT

LEGAL DISCLAIMER