WASHINGTON, DC, US, May 9, 2007.
Green power could supply half the current electricity demand in the U.S. and green fuels could meet 40% of the country’s transportation fuel demand by 2025.
Wind could play the largest part in generating electricity, supplying 40% of the country’s green power, estimates the ‘2007 Joint Outlook on Renewable Energy in America’ produced by a number of industry associations. Solar could generate 26%, geothermal and biomass 16% each, while hydro, tidal and wave power could generate 3.6%.
If renewable energy is to reach its full potential, the U.S. needs coordinated, sustained federal and state policies that expand renewable energy markets, promote and deploy new technology, and encourage renewable energy use in all critical market sectors, the groups argue. The projections include supplying 635 GW of new generating capacity by 2025 and displacing 40% of U.S. petroleum products by 2030, and the levels differ from U.S. government and oil companies which predict renewables will continue to account for 5% to 10% of the country's energy by 2030.
The report was coordinated by the American Council On Renewable Energy with input from the American Wind Energy Association, Solar Energy Industries Association, U.S. Combined Heat & Power Association, National Hydropower Association, Geothermal Energy Association, Biomass Coordinating Council, National Biodiesel Board, Renewable Fuels Association, American Solar Energy Society, Ocean Energy Council, Union of Concerned Scientists, Worldwatch Institute and the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.
“The guiding principles in our report will allow our country to successfully transition towards a scale-up of the use of renewable resources to power and fuel America,” says Michael Eckhart of ACORE. “This is a bold joint statement on the potential that the U.S. has before it.”
He called for a ten-fold increase in public research money, which he believes should total at least US$4 billion a year.
“Renewable energy will not be a niche source of America’s energy in 2025,” adds Reid Detchon of the Energy Future Coalition. “It is capable of supplying at least 25% of our energy as part of a wholesale transformation of the energy business.”
“Steady, long-term policy support is crucial to sustain this growth and attract investment,” explains Randall Swisher of AWEA. “A national renewable portfolio standard and a long-term extension of the renewable energy production tax credit are measures that can be adopted now and would unleash billions of dollars in new projects and manufacturing plants, create tens of thousands of jobs and generate revenue for farmers and rural communities, while jump-starting cost-effective action against global warming.”
“The United States has the best solar resources in the industrialized world, but we need federal leadership to put these resources to work for all Americans,” adds Rhone Resch of SEIA. “Adopting H.R.550 and S.590, the Securing America’s Energy Independence Act, would create 55,000 solar industry jobs by 2016, encourage states to invest billions of dollars in renewable energy infrastructure, displace four trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and save American consumers $32 billion.”
“Biomass power is expected to contribute significantly to our future energy needs, by supplying power and heat locally and displacing the need for much less efficient and remote central stations,” says Paul Lemar of the cogeneration association. “These clean distributed generation applications will lower GHG emissions and the overall cost of power.”
“Our success hinges on the support of policies that encourage research, development, demonstration and deployment,” adds Linda Church Ciocci of the National Hydropower Association. “The Department of Energy must reinstate funding for hydropower research for both conventional and new emerging technologies.”
“America can make the transition to a sustainable energy future through greater efficiency and expanded use of domestic, renewable energy resources,” says Karl Gawell of the Geothermal Energy Association. “The ACORE report demonstrates that renewable technologies have the potential to support a fundamental transformation of our energy system.”
“An important change that must take place at the policy level is to consider the combination of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that add value to one another, rather than viewing them as competing for R&D funding,” notes George Hagerman of the Ocean Energy Council.
