Renewable Resource Push Gets Stronger

An energy revolution has begun, experts say, and they credit a shared vision.

"Energy drives our entire economy," said Nick Rigas, the director of the South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies at Clemson University. "Let's face it, without energy the whole economy and economic society we have set up would come to a halt."

Control over energy, Mr. Rigas said, stems from diversity and renewable resources.

"My sense is that energy use in the United States will become more diverse. In other words, fossil fuels will ... play a role, as will wind, as will solar, as will the biofuels, as will hydrogen ..."

If that's the goal, though, the country's a long way from attaining it. For one thing, coal-fired plants are a 30- to 50-year commitment that companies are not going to abandon overnight, said George Douglas, a spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Plus, Mr. Douglas said, there's no rush because the current energy system isn't broken.

"When you walked into your office today and flipped a switch, the light came on," he said. "And not only did the light come on, it came on for pennies."

According to the federal Energy Information Administration, as of September only 1.6 percent of the country's energy was generated from renewable resources.

A grassroots movement

Few people are as committed to the cause as Shon Rainford and Rani Colbert.

Last summer, they moved with their daughter to the woods in south- central South Carolina. They spent $6,000 on solar panels, batteries and generators, which enable them to live far from neighbors and far off the electricity grid.

"We don't contribute any greenhouse gas emissions, basically, from the (running) of this house," Mr. Rainford said.

The couple believes Americans could easily incorporate energy- saving measures into their lives.

Mr. Rainford and Ms. Colbert, for starters, leave the lights off during the day and only use one lamp at a time at night. When they built the house, they kept some of the nearby trees to keep the home cool during summer.

Their lamps use compact fluorescent light bulbs, and a new shower head shuts the water flow down to a trickle to save water while a person lathers up.

"You can't rely on other people to save the world," Mr. Rainford said. "If you don't do it, who will?"

Political action

States have reacted to, and joined in, the renewable fuels movement to varying degrees, Mr. Rigas said. Biomass and wind are popular in the Midwest, which is flush with corn fields and windy enough to justify the construction of wind farms.

The sun-baked Southwest has the highest potential for solar energy use in the country, according to the U.S. EIA. In places such as South Carolina and Georgia, energy experts are exploring the potentials of off-shore wind farms which work the same as land- based farms but take advantage of the nearly constant off-shore winds, Mr. Rigas said.

So far, 22 governors have endorsed the national "25 x '25" plan, a nonbinding proposal to get 25 percent of the country's energy coming from renewable resources such as wind, solar and biofuels by the year 2025. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have enacted some level of renewable energy standard mandating that, by a given date, the state attain a specified level of renewable energy use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Roadblocks and realities

The hardware and technology are the easiest part of the problem to address, said Richard Hirsch at Virginia Tech, who manages the school's Consortium on Energy Restructuring. Changing the country's mind-set and consciousness is harder, he said.

"That whole not-in-my-backyard attitude, I think Americans need to get over it," Mr. Hirsch said. "Because you know we're all in this together."

COMPARING ENERGY SOURCES SOLAR PROS: Generates electricity whenever the sun is shining, environmentally friendly, reliable technology CONS: Generates electricity only during the day, high cost of equipment upfront, limited equipment availability WIND PROS: Inexpensive way to generate electricity, relatively inexpensive equipment, reliable equipment, an inexhaustible resource CONS: Wind is intermittent, aesthetics (requires turbines and windmills) BIOMASS PROS: Carbon-neutral, promotes energy security by displacing fossil fuels, easily used in current infrastructure CONS: Ethanol technology is based on corn right now, which will conflict with food production if use grows and other materials such as switchgrass aren't used; ethanol production requires a lot of energy input for just a slight gain; small technical issues HYDROGEN PROS: If produced from a renewable source, it's extremely clean because it burns to water; efficient CONS: Technology is still developing, availability of necessary infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations is limited Sources: South Carolina Strategic and Tactical Research on Energy Independence Commission and the federal Energy Information Administration

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