Unleash Clean Power
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a practical plan to cut
U.S. oil use in half over the next 20 years, which will save
billions of dollars each year, dramatically cut global warming
emissions, and ease many other serious problems, including oil spills,
the high cost of oil and gas price spikes, and health threats from air
pollution that have become the all-too-familiar face of oil.
A key piece of that plan is cleaner fuels. Imagine a future
where the fuel in our cars and the electricity that powers our homes and
businesses come from fast-growing grasses and agricultural and other
wastes, which can serve as non-food sources of biofuel or
bioenergy. This future may not be far off if we put smart policies in
place to spur growth in this emerging industry.
In the coming weeks, an innovative company—INEOS Bio—will begin
producing clean fuel and electricity from vegetative waste at a
first-of-its-kind biorefinery. And this plant is just the beginning. Our
new report,
The
Promise of Biomass, finds that, by 2030, we could
sustainably produce enough non-food bioenergy to make four times the
corn ethanol produced in the United States in 2010, or nearly 20 percent
of total U.S. power consumption that year.
But the policies that have set the stage for clean bioenergy to
become a large-scale power source are under attack from the fossil fuel
industry and its allies, who profit handsomely from the status
quo. If Congress fails to act, a key policy supporting production of
clean bioenergy from sustainable, non-food sources will expire at the
end of 2012, slowing the development of this burgeoning industry at a
critical time.
Choose a clean power future.
Urge your member of Congress to promote innovation by extending
production tax credits for clean, non-food-based fuels and renewable
electricity.
Take
Action Today!
Sincerely,
Rachel Cohen
National Field Organizer
Clean Vehicles Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C. To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.ucsusa.org