Washington, D.C. - If renewable energy is to reach its full
potential, America 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, according to a first-of-a-kind report issued today by
organizations leading the move to wider utilization of renewable
resources in the U.S.
Coordinated by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) the
organizations projected how their industries can meet the demand for
cleaner energy and fuels. Those projections include supplying 635
gigawatts of new electric generating capacity by 2025 and supplanting
as much as 40% of U.S. petroleum products by 2030.
ACORE led this shared effort toward the report, 2007 Joint Outlook on
Renewable Energy in America, to help communicate what renewable
energy is capable of achieving with the appropriate mix of policies
and market-based incentives and standards.
“Renewable energy will not be a ‘niche’ source of America’s energy in
2025,” said Reid Detchon, Executive Director 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,” said Randall Swisher, Executive Director of
the American Wind Energy Association. “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,” said Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy
Industries Association. “Adopting H.R. 550 and S. 590, the Securing
America’s Energy Independence Act, would create approximately 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,”
Resch added.
"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" said Paul
Lemar of the U. S. Combined Heat and Power Association. "These clean
distributed generation applications will lower greenhouse gas
emissions and the overall cost of power."
“Our success,” said Linda Church Ciocci, Executive Director of the
National Hydropower Association, “hinges on the support of policies
that encourage research, development, demonstration and deployment.
The Department of Energy must reinstate funding for hydropower
research for both conventional and new emerging technologies.”
Said Karl Gawell, Executive Director, Geothermal Energy Association:
“The ACORE report demonstrates that renewable technologies have the
potential to support a fundamental transformation of our energy
system. America can make the transition to a sustainable energy
future through greater efficiency and expanded use of domestic,
renewable energy resources.”
“In America, and around the world, we are recreating major new roles
for biofuels, biopower and biobased products,” said William Holmberg,
Chairman of the Biomass Coordinating Council. “In all corners of the
earth, their production continues to soar along with imperatives to
ensure enhancement of: soils, water quality and quantity.
“Equally important are commitments to grow abundant food supplies and
develop new opportunities for those who work the land for a living,”
Holmberg added.
“An important change that must take place at the policy level,”
remarked George Hagerman of the Virginia TechAdvanced Research
Institute and the Ocean Energy Council, “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.”
ACORE President Michael T. Eckhart said, “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. This is a bold joint statement on the potential that the
U.S. has before it.”
Other nonprofit and academic organizations participating in the
report are the American Solar Energy Society, The Renewable and
Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at
Berkleley, Union of Concerned Scientists and Worldwatch Institute.
Other trade associations participating in the report are the National
Biodiesel Board and the Renewable Fuels Association.
