Crib Sheet: Clean Energy

Congress and industry aren’t taking it seriously. You should.

By Aaron Tucker, Sierra Club
Wednesday July 27, 2005

A bill moving through Congress this week includes billions and billions of dollars in tax incentives, loans and subsidies for your basic dirty, nonrenewable energy powerhouses like coal and oil companies. President Bush intends to sign the bill. Programs that emphasize conservation and efficiency will receive only $1.3 billion of the promised $14.1 billion in handouts. $3 billion in tax breaks will go to renewable energy sources like wind power. The bill chooses to ignore our increasing dependence on foreign oil and on automobiles with miserable fuel efficiency in lieu of corporate handouts to mature energy industries.

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, while producing most of the world’s power, have dangerous consequences both locally and globally for our environment, economy and national security. These consequences are only now beginning to be fully realized as global warming threatens to unravel the world’s climate over the next century- unless we act now.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate or higher, the earth’s temperature could rise between 2.5 and 10.4°F over the next century. To put that into perspective, during the last ice age the earth’s average temperature was only 9°F cooler than it is now. The scientific evidence behind global warming is now so overwhelming that only a lonely group of industry-funded politicians and scientists continue to deny the urgency of the threat.

In addition to global warming, coal-fired power plants and gasoline-powered automobiles are responsible for the pollution that increases asthma attacks and worsens environmental problems like acid rain, haze, smog, and other air and water pollution. According to the EPA, the pollution from the nation’s coal-fired power plants contributes to over 30,000 premature deaths, 20,000 hospitalizations, 600,000 asthma attacks and five million lost work days every year.

A limited resource, fossil fuels are being depleted at an unprecedented rate, a reality that affects U.S. global policies as our economic, diplomatic, and even military activity abroad is influenced by our thirst for more oil. This addiction to foreign oil could have devastating effects on our economy in the future as it becomes dangerously tied to the rate of foreign production.

Unfortunately, our federal government and many of our nation’s largest corporations remain insistently dependent on our fossil fuel economy. For instance, automakers such as GM and Ford pretend to be environmentally conscious by promoting the supposed fuel economy of their lightest cars, but continue to build huge gas-guzzlers, furthering our addiction to oil.

Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. We now have the technology and the knowhow to move beyond our dependence on polluting power plants and stop global warming by using clean, safe, and affordable renewable energy.

What can we do to end our use of fossil fuels?

Today, renewable sources of energy like the sun and the wind are ready to begin powering our economy and transforming how we produce electricity. Both solar and wind produce no carbon emissions during energy production and use resources that can never be exhausted. A clean energy future will rely not just on a diverse mixture of renewable energy, but also on energy efficiency- the quickest, cheapest way of improving our energy supply and reducing the need for new polluting power plants.

How much renewable energy do we use and how much can we produce?

Currently, the United States produces about 2% of our electricity nationwide using renewable energy, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, but our nation’s renewable capacity is only beginning to be tapped. Skeptics of renewable energy and oil companies point to this low percentage as proof that renewable energy will remain a niche segment of the energy market forever, but the evidence demonstrates otherwise.

The skeptics’ perspective fails to acknowledge the many surmountable economic and political barriers that keep renewable energy from realizing its full potential. Using existing technology and resources, we could dramatically cut our reliance on existing polluting power plants by requiring at least 20 percent of our electricity from renewable sources of energy by 2020 and by increasing the energy efficiency of our appliances and homes. Such an investment in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency would have a profound impact not just on our environment, but on our economy, stimulating job growth. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a renewable portfolio standard of 20 percent by 2020 would create 355,000 new jobs in the manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance of new renewable energy structures and plants – nearly twice as many jobs as building new fossil fuel plants to supply the same amount of electricity. It would also generate an additional $8.2 billion in income and $10.2 billion in gross domestic product in the United States’ economy.

Why doesn’t renewable energy already make up a significant portion of our electrical grid?

Money. The coal, oil and gas industry have spent millions of dollars lobbying to ensure our current energy supply is powered by fossil fuels. They have been greatly rewarded by politicians with laws making us more dependent on fossil fuels and huge subsidies, which fatten corporate profits and artificially lower the market price.

For instance, in the past two years, oil and utility companies pumped $367 million into pushing for energy legislation that supports them, leaving renewables in the dust. They were rewarded Tuesday with an Energy Bill granting $11.6 billion in taxpayer subsidies to prop up the industry. Additionally, they fund so-called research to try to debunk climate change woes. Exxon Mobil dumped over six million dollars since 1998 into groups and people including the Competitive Enterprise Institute who consistently refute global warming with fake science.

With mature energy technologies like coal and gas receiving huge subsidies and favorable laws, developing renewable energy technologies like wind and solar have faced an uphill battle to become cost-competitive. Despite these disadvantages, renewables are making progress and will become equal in cost or cheaper than fossil fuels in the future as technology improves and the cost of oil increases. One step would be to take away subsidies from fossil fuels and move them toward renewable energy.

Won’t it be too expensive to transition to clean energy?

No. First, the long-term costs of doing nothing to prevent global warming are too large to ignore. In 2002 the U.S. spent $13.8 billion in weather-related disaster assistance, which will only increase as global warming causes more frequent extreme weather conditions. Second, the price of transitioning to renewable energy is affordable. According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration EIA, a national renewable portfolio standard to provide 20% of US electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass energy by 2020 “would cost consumers almost nothing” and ultimately save consumers money in the long run. The states are already realizing this and 19 have enacted their own RPS legislation kick starting renewable development, such as in the New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland region where, according to wind power companies like Community Energy, Inc., there are already greater renewable demands.

Is renewable energy reliable?

The advanced technology of wind turbines and solar panels allows them to produce substantial amounts of electricity even on days with soft winds or little sunshine. Combined into a hybrid system, wind can provide power when the sun is down and solar can provide power on still days.

How can energy efficiency improve our power supply?

The cleanest way to meet our electricity needs is by using less of it in the first place. By planning intelligently and using existing technology, we can cut our electricity consumption and slow down the meter. Improving energy efficiency lowers energy bills, eliminates the need for new power plants, increases our energy security, and keeps our environment clean. We have already seen that energy efficiency works. Today’s efficiency standards save as much energy as is used by 6.5 million households – the same effect as if we took 25 million cars off the road. And we can do much more with only small improvements. For example, if every household in the United States switched to Energy Star light fixtures, we could prevent 50 million tons of global warming pollution per year, which would be equivalent to taking another 10 million cars off the road. Everyone can take personal responsibility to make sure our homes, businesses, and appliances are as efficient s possible.

What are the advantages of switching to renewable energy?

Spur Innovation – The United States, once a leader in renewable energy development, has fallen behind other nations such as Japan, Germany and Denmark in pursuing clean energy solutions. By reinvigorating our commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency, we can develop the technologies of tomorrow and find solutions for today’s most pressing problems.

Curb Global Warming – Our nation’s fossil fuel power plants are the primary source of global carbon dioxide, the principal global warming pollutant. Boosting our use of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency can eliminate the need for nearly a thousand new power plants over the next 20 years. Currently, 114 coal plants are being planned across the country, a step which would almost single-handedly erase the progress dozens of nations across the world have made to reduce their own emissions.

Improve Public Health – Pollution from existing power plants contributes to over 600,000 asthma attacks each year. Increasing energy efficiency and our use of renewable energy can take dangerous pollutants out of the air and keep us all healthier and often less dependant on government healthcare systems. Clean energy can particularly help alleviate health problems in some of America’s poorest communities where asthma and other respiratory illness rates are highest.

Cut Energy Bills – Clean energy saves money. Together, strong renewable energy and energy efficiency policies could save a typical family $350 per year in lower energy bills by 2020. In addition, more renewable energy means more insulation from price spikes. Similar to good investors diversifying their stock portfolio, using more renewable energy will diversify our electricity mix and make us less dependent on the performance of a small number of dirty fuels.

Enhance Energy Security – Renewable energy is a reliable source of "home-grown" energy, allowing communities and homes to generate their own power. While current power plants and transmission lines could be inviting targets for terrorists, decentralized renewable energy sources make it more difficult to disrupt large portions of the electrical grid.

Bring Jobs, Income, and Revenue to Rural America – Renewable energy development can be a powerful economic support for rural areas. Farmers and ranchers have received $2,000 per year in lease payments for each wind turbine operating on their land. Renewable energy projects also infuse local communities with increased tax revenues and generate local jobs.

For more coverage from Campus Progress on clean energy issues, check out Kim Teplitzky’s article on energy and national security, and NorthSouthEastWest, a photo gallery of exhibits that address the impact of climate change.