(US) Renewables Build Head of Steam

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47717

U.S. renewable energy programs are building a head of steam. The questions surrounding the movement are whether such initiatives are reliable, cost effective and environmentally beneficial or whether they are merely feel-good efforts.

Renewable energy tied to wind and solar would have difficulty penetrating markets unless government interceded and provided tax breaks or instructed utilities to provide some green offerings. The goal is to create demand, which in turn attracts providers to the field and ultimately leads to the development of newer and better products and services. The end result is a cleaner and healthier environment.

"Without the incentives, the market penetration is very small," says Lisa Frantzis, director of renewable energy programs for Navigant Consulting, at a talk before the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy unit. "If you add the incentives, the level of activity significantly jumps."

Right now, 22 states have renewable portfolio standards while 9 more are considering rules to require utilities to provide some power from green sources. The federal government, meantime, may do the same. While Congress has failed to pass those measures in the past, the thinking now is that such action is inevitable.

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[kirby]

1. Argh!

I get so mad when I read these things. They always qualify their findings by saying they might not be as 'cost effective' as oil. Yet, no one factors in the trillions of dollars in wars or thousands of lost lives or cost of proping up dictators. All of those costs are never discussed and simply passed onto future generations to pay.

[kestrel91316]

2. So true. I get the funny feeling we won't ever need to launch a war against,

for instance, India or Australia or half of Africa to protect our wind power interests.........

If we count the TRUE costs of this War Without End, including the daily cost of waging it, the American deaths, the American disabilities, the loss of international goodwill, etc etc etc, we CANNOT AFFORD, as a nation, to use oil. All the alternatives are MUCH cheaper.