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It’s been an incredible year. Nationally, we’ve faced a dynamic primary season, a turbulent economy, the passage of a bailout package, skyrocketing oil prices, and a long election season. Locally, North Carolina faces a 6.7 percent unemployment rate, the highest we have seen since at least 1990. We’ve seen our banking and manufacturing industries threatened with closings, layoffs and market uncertainties.

President-elect Barack Obama will need the country’s support if we’re going to address these issues and many others. As Obama has indicated, priority will be placed on creating new sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, to stimulate the economy.

The president-elect and the new Congress need to act swiftly and implement legislation investing in clean energy to repower America. Continuing to rely on the coal and oil we’ve been using since the Industrial Revolution leaves us vulnerable to price spikes and supply shortages. For more than 200 years, our reliance on fossil fuels has compromised our environment and our health. A recent New York Times article urged that waiting to invest in new energy technologies “could triple the cost (of energy).”

We’ve modernized almost every aspect of our lives but we still use coal to power our Blackberries and laptops. The American Society of Civil Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy both agree that the nation’s electrical grid is overloaded and is in urgent need of modernization.

 We can rebuild a smart, clean energy grid that harnesses U.S.-produced clean energy for the next generation. We need to take advantage of modern technologies and focus on homegrown energy solutions. A recent report, prepared by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, outlines a $100 billion green economic recovery program to strengthen the U.S. economy over the next two years.  If this plan were implemented, North Carolina alone could receive $2.9 billion of the $100 billion, which would create more than 62,000 new jobs in the state and potentially reduce the state’s unemployment rate to 4.8 percent in two years.

North Carolina has been bold and adopted a renewable energy production law that requires our utilities to develop an estimated 300 megawatts of solar power by 2021.  The state’s General Assembly created the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change in 2005, and the North Carolina Green Business Fund was created in 2007 to promote the development of green businesses statewide. We also have made a significant investment in biofuels research and required that all new state government buildings be more energy (and water) efficient.

Our strong manufacturing base is ready and waiting to support the growth of emerging technologies. High-growth areas exist in renewable energies (solar, wind, and geothermal power). Building fuel-efficient hybrid and all-electric cars can drive money into our economy in the next few years and create millions of jobs.

Many of the skilled workers formerly employed in industries that have lost jobs to overseas companies already have the skills required to build a clean energy economy. That could create thousands of jobs right here in North Carolina that could never be outsourced.

Repowering America is a nonpartisan issue. It is crucial that we pass a strong national policy that invests in clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar, for our economic future.

We’ve got a tough road ahead as we look at rebuilding the country and our state, repairing our economy and repowering our energy sources. Failure to take action has held us back for years. Four years from now, let’s look back and be proud of our progress and leave our current regrets where they belong: in the past.

Rep. Pricey Harrison represents District 57 in the N.C. General Assembly.