Presidential contender promises 20% from green power in U.S.
BOSTON, Massachusetts, US, 2004-08-04 (Refocus Weekly)
The presidential candidate for the Democratic party has promised to generate 20% of U.S. electricity from renewables by 2020.
“To create an energy-independent America, we will have to do more than use
existing energy sources more efficiently,” John Kerry says in his energy
policy. “To grow our economy, tap our ingenuity, and protect our environment,
we will also have to explore and develop new energy sources.”
“A key priority will be ensuring that the federal Production Tax Credit for
wind and biomass is applicable to the full array of renewable technologies,
since the unpredictability of frequent short term extensions of the PTC has
greatly hindered investment and expansion of the industry in the U.S.,” he
explains. “No single solution can meet all of our society's future energy
needs - we will need a diverse group of energy technologies. Predictable and
stable federal policies are critical to achieving this goal.”
Kerry and vice presidential candidate John Edwards, say domestic renewable
energy reduces oil dependence, creates electricity and enhances markets for
electricity, “and growth in these new technologies will create quality jobs,
as well as goods and services for export.” They will increase funding to
research renewables, “offering the prospect of both technical advances and the
development of an enhanced supply chain.”
“Like any other business development, clean energy technologies and projects
need capital to get off the ground,” and they will improve access to financing
for renewables and work with the investor community to find ways to encourage
additional investment.
“America will commit its technological and industrial prowess to developing
and sustaining clean, renewable sources of fuel,” the policy says. “These
new sources will not only dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil,
they will also create new industries, new jobs, and new ways to protect our
environment.”
The plan calls for an increase in the use of domestic green fuels, such as
ethanol, by five billion gallons by 2012, to increase the use of waste biomass,
and to provide funding and financing mechanisms for further research. It also
involves development of domestic oil supplies in the western and central Gulf of
Mexico and the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, in order to diversify the
world oil supply to include non-OPEC suppliers.
“Americans will be freer and stronger when we break our dependence on foreign
oil,” says Kerry. “America will be safer and freer when the resources that
fuel our economy are in our own hands, when we develop new energy sources right
here in America.”
The U.S. consumes 2.5 million barrels of Middle East oil every day, and
instability in that region has pushed prices to record highs, he explains.
Soaring energy costs are “burdening middle-class families with higher gas
prices, and our dependence on Middle East oil is putting our national security
at risk.”
The plan calls for increased efficiency in transportation, creation of a
Hydrogen Institute to develop a ‘New Energy Economy’ by 2020, improving
efficiency in buildings, reducing energy costs of the federal government by 20%
by 2020, constructing a pipeline to move natural gas from Alaska to the lower
states, and developing new ways to generate cleaner power from coal with an
investment of $10 billion over the next decade to improve the efficiency of
current coal generation facilities.
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