WASHINGTON, April 7, 2016 - America can address its largest
environmental challenges by shifting to 100 percent renewable energy, says a panel
of academic experts and clean energy advocates.
David Freeman, utility CEO and author of “All-Electric
America,” and other experts joined Environment
America and Frontier Group recently
for an online presentation and discussion of their new white paper, “We Have the Power: 100 Percent Renewable Energy for
a Clean, Thriving America,” which lays out “whys, wherefores, and how-to’s for
transforming the nation’s energy supply entirely to wind, solar, and other
non-polluting sources.”
“My colleagues have exhaustively proven, in infinite detail,
that we can put together an electric power supply that’s all renewable,” says Freeman.
The report asserts that there are “no insurmountable
technological or economic barriers to 100 percent renewable energy.” Some seven
detailed studies of clean energy systems, conducted by academics, government
agencies and nonprofit organizations, suggest that the U.S. has the tools
needed to make the transition, the panel says.
The paper cites the rapidly falling costs of both wind and
solar, and notes that the growth in solar has surpassed even clean energy
advocates’ expectations.
“There’s very little downside to the transition,” says Mark Jacobson of
Stanford University, author of several studies showing the feasibility of 100
percent clean energy. “We think this is a winning situation for everyone in the
long term.”
Among the paper’s conclusions:
-
A shift to 100 percent renewable energy can
limit the impacts of global warming. The 2015 Paris
Agreement pledges the U.S. to pursue efforts to limit global temperature
increase to 1.5 degrees Centigrade above pre-industrial levels. America must
transition to 100 percent clean energy before mid-century and leave most U.S. remaining
coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground to achieve that goal.
-
Renewable energy improves the public health,
increases safety and puts the country’s economy on a sound foundation. The
expansion of renewable energy creates local jobs that cannot be outsourced,
reduces the impact of fossil fuel-induced harm to the environment and health and
safeguards the economy from the volatility of fossil fuel prices. America has vast renewable energy resources. According
to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. has the technical
potential to meet its current electricity needs more than 100 times over with
solar energy and more than 10 times over with wind energy. The American
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimates that we can reduce overall
energy use by 40 to 60 percent below current levels by mid-century, even as the
U.S. economy continues to grow.
-
Affordable 100 percent renewable energy is
within reach. Economists predict that the U.S. can build a 100 percent
renewable energy system at costs comparable to or less than what it would have
to spend to continue its reliance on existing energy sources. The International
Energy Agency estimates that limiting warming to 2 degrees C would require an
additional investment of about 1 percent of global GDP per year. That
investment would yield savings of more than $115 trillion on fuel by 2050 – a
net savings of more than $70 trillion.
- Emerging technologies and new trends are opening
the door for an unprecedented transformation of the U.S. energy system to 100
percent clean, renewable power. Renewable energy and energy efficiency
technologies are rapidly falling in price, improving in performance and
providing new tools.
The report suggests that leaders at all levels of government
should act to accelerate the transition to 100 percent renewable energy and
recommends five key principles to guide America’s energy policy -- many of
which will be controversial with traditional energy providers:
-
Prioritize energy
savings;
- Conserve energy
and use it more efficiently to ease the transition from “dirty” fuels to clean,
renewable energy;
-
Promote steady
and swift deployment of clean renewable energy sources transition those
portions of the economy that rely on direct combustion of fossil fuels to
electricity and other zero-carbon energy carriers;
-
Provide reliable
access to renewable energy by modernizing the electricity grid and enabling
community microgrids and grid-connected energy storage; and
-
Keep much of U.S.
coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground and cease construction of new fossil
fuel infrastructure for health reasons and to protect the global climate.
#30
For more news, go to: www.agri-pulse.com