America’s
Economic Future Requires a Foundation Of Clean Energy
New
Report Lays out Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Environmental Protection
Philadelphia, PA - As President Elect Obama and a new Congress prepare to meet
today’s economic and environmental challenges, PennEnvironment released a
report that lays out a blueprint for how we can power Pennsylvania and the
country for the 21st century, protecting our environment while revitalizing our
economy.
“President-elect Obama defied conventional wisdom and swept the Midwest on the
promise of using clean energy to revitalize the economy,” said Nathan Willcox,
Energy & Clean Air Advocate for PennEnvironment. “Today's new report
provides a blueprint for how the new president and Congress can deliver on this
promise by creating new green jobs, cutting energy waste, putting us on the
path to independence from oil, and promoting wind, solar and other clean energy
sources.”
The PennEnvironment report makes the case that America has enough renewable
energy potential to power the country several times over, providing the
following examples:
- The space available on America’s rooftops alone could host
enough solar panels to meet about 70 percent of our current electricity needs.
- Concentrating solar power, also known as solar thermal
power, on just 9 percent of the land area of Nevada could produce enough
electricity to power the entire United States.
- The wind blowing over just five U.S. states – North Dakota,
South Dakota, Kansas, Montana and Texas – could produce enough electricity to
power the entire United States.
- America’s Atlantic, Pacific and Great Lakes coastlines
could host enough wind turbines to nearly match the capacity of all of
America’s current electricity generators combined.
- Geothermal energy - heat from below the earth’s surface -
has the potential to meet about half the total electricity production capacity
in the United States today.
PennEnvironment also points out that energy efficiency is one of America’s
largest untapped energy sources. By adopting energy efficiency measures that
pay for themselves in energy savings over time, our homes, businesses and
factories can cut their energy use by at least 25 percent.
“When you add it all together - energy efficiency, wind, solar and geothermal
power, with help from other renewable sources like biomass, tidal, and wave energy
- you have an equation that can power our homes and businesses, drive our
economy, and protect our environment,” said Willcox.
Switching America over to 100 percent clean electricity was one of three goals
laid out in the report, Renewing America: A Blueprint for Economic Recovery.
The second goal, cutting America’s oil consumption in half, requires a
different set of policies because transportation accounts for 70 percent of
America’s oil consumption.
With Americans cutting back on driving, transit ridership is at a 50 year
high. But partially as a result of this increased ridership, 85 percent
of transit systems are experiencing capacity problems, and 65 percent lack the
revenue they need to increase service. In addition to funding transportation
options, PennEnvironment pointed out that increasing auto-efficiency with
already available technologies would dramatically reduce our oil dependence and
take a significant bite out of the $400 billion Americans spend on gasoline
annually.
“As many Pennsylvanians have already discovered, clean energy in America is not
some distant dream,” said Willcox. “We have the technology, the tools,
and the know-how to use energy more wisely and get more of our energy from
clean, renewable sources. What’s more, clean energy can be produced right
here at home, creating new jobs in all sectors of the nation’s economy –
including many jobs that can never be outsourced.”
PennEnvironment summarized several studies that found dramatic employment
opportunities created by investing in clean energy. One study by
economists at the University of Massachusetts for the Center for American
Progress found that investing in clean energy infrastructure would provide four
times as many jobs as investing that same money in the oil industry.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that there are already 750,000 “green
jobs” in the United States directly or indirectly supporting clean, renewable
energy. American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy estimates that
energy efficiency currently supports 1.63 million jobs nationwide. Laid-off
workers in the nation’s “Rust Belt” are getting back to work building wind
turbines and solar panels; farmers in the Midwest are supplementing their
incomes with royalties from wind farms; and residents of economically
distressed inner cities are learning how to install solar panels and weatherize
homes for greater energy efficiency.
“To turn this trickle of green jobs into a torrent of new economic
opportunities, we need to act boldly – and fast. America can and must switch to
100 percent clean power and cut our oil consumption in half – and create
millions of new jobs doing it,” said Willcox. “There is much President-elect
Obama and our new Congress can do. First off, investing in energy efficiency,
wind and solar power, and public transit must be a cornerstone of any economic
recovery plan.”
Renewing-America.pdf