More detailed trade statistics would be useful in determining how to reduce the outflow of money from Washington State to stimulate the economy and reduce the budget deficit.
The "Other" category is $38,328,300,000 in imports.
http://www.washingtonports.org/issues_areas/economic_development/trade_statistics.asp
Leading "Pass-Through" Imports: (2004 figures in millions of U.S. dollars)
1. High-tech $6,317.6
2. Forest products $5,186.9
3. Motor vehicle parts $3,167.8
4. Motor vehicles $3,062.3
5. Crude Oil $2,353.6
6. Arcade/Table games $1,474.3
7. Petroleum Gases $1,467.4
8. Footwear $1,408.6
9. Spark-Ignition Recip or Rotary Pistons $1,108.5
10. Aircraft parts $1,108.5
11. Other $38,328.3
Total $65,135.0
Here are some suggestions for reducing the outflow of money from Washington State to stimulate the local economy and reduce the budget deficit.
2. Forest products
Provide a tax incentive to construct houses with concrete exterior walls to reduce imports of forest products to keep that money in the local economy.
http://www.cement.org/homes/brief09.asp
"Building a new house with concrete exterior walls will add roughly 3 percent to the sale price, compared to the same house built with conventional wood framing. Research results showed this modest increase during the monitoring of the construction of three homes, built side by side by the same crew. The exterior walls of two homes were built with concrete, while the third was built entirely with wood framing."
5. Crude Oil
If electric car companies don't mention the tax savings for purchases of electric cars in their commercials, advertise the $7500 federal credit and the 6.5 percent sales tax exemption on TV regularly to make sure Washington State residents take full advantage.
In the TV commercial, mention the goal is to reduce the amount of crude oil imported into Washington State to keep that money in the local economy.
http://www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm
"Plug-In Electric Vehicles
The Recovery Act modifies the credit for qualified plug-in electric drive vehicles purchased after Dec. 31, 2009. The minimum amount of the credit for qualified plug-in electric drive vehicles is $2,500 and the credit tops out at $7,500, depending on the battery capacity."
http://www.hybridcars.com/local-incentives/region-by-region.html
Washington High-MPG Sales Tax Exemption
"Electric vehicles are exempt from the 6.5 percent sales tax and plug-in hybrids are exempt from the 0.3% motor vehicle sales tax. Tax exemptions also apply to charging station equipment and service. These tax exemptions expire on January 1, 2011."
Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures have invested in a company producing a simpler and more efficient internal combustion engine. Ecomotors plans to demonstrate a 5-passenger car capable of 100 mpg on the EPA highway cycle in 2010.
http://www.ecomotors.com/
A GM Volt with this engine would be even more efficient.
7. Petroleum Gases
(a) Build plasma gasification waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in Washington State.
Municipal solid waste is currently sitting in landfills releasing methane into the atmosphere. It can be used to create energy instead.
http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/projects/projects-under-development
"Geoplasma's St. Lucie WTE Project
When completed, Geoplasma's WTE plant in Florida will be one of the largest plasma gasification facilities in the world, using WPC plasma gasification technology. Located on an existing landfill site, it will process up to 3,000 tons-per-day of MSW and producing 120 MW of electricity. The first phase will process 1,500 tons-per-day and produce 60 MW or enough electricity to power 60,000 homes.
The only other output from the facility will be an inert slag which can be used for aggregate in road construction."
Other WTE plasma-gasification projects:
1. Sun Energy WTE Project, New Orleans
2. Koochiching Development Authority (KDA) – Coronal WTE Project, International Falls, Minnesota
3. Green Power Systems, WTE project, Tallahassee, Florida
4. Fuel Frontiers, Inc. (FFI), Muhlenberg County CTL Project, Kentucky
(b) A Colorado company has a solar thermal system that generates heat and power using a low-temperature Stirling engine. Their claim is up to a 75% reduction in energy bills.
Provide a tax incentive or rebate to install this technology and other home energy efficiency improvements.
Advertise the availability of the tax incentive or rebate for home energy efficiency improvements on TV regularly to make sure Washington State residents take full advantage.
In the TV commercial, mention the goal is to reduce the amount of petroleum gases imported into Washington State to keep that money in the local economy.
This could also be installed in government buildings to reduce energy usage.
http://www.coolenergyinc.com/
"These are the two ways that Cool Energy is using its novel SolarHeart Engine technology (low temperature Stirling engine) to provide savings to its customers. The SolarFlow® System home energy system enables home and building owners to cut their energy bills by as much as 75% and can provide U.S. homeowners annual returns of 20%. Each installation emits zero pollution saving each household approximately 6 tons of carbon dioxide pollution per year."
http://www.coolenergyinc.com/solar.html
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