America's Economy Could Profit From Renewable Energy: Congress Moving Backwards As States Move Forward On Energy Policy

Washington, DC - America has the potential to generate four times its current electricity generation from renewables, not counting its considerable solar resources, according to a new report released today by U.S. PIRG.

Generating Solutions: How Clean, Renewable Energy is Boosting Local Economies and Saving Consumers Money shows that a national standard increasing the use of renewable energy to 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply by 2020 would benefit the economy by creating three to five times as many jobs as a similar investment in fossil fuels, consumers by saving $4.5 billion by 2020, and the environment by reducing global warming emissions from power plants by 19 percent in 2020.

"The good news is that renewable energy is coming online across the country. The bad news is that more than 90 percent of our electricity still comes from fossil fuels and nuclear power," said U.S. PIRG Clean Energy Advocate Katherine Morrison.

Pointing to recent price spikes in the natural gas market, U.S. PIRG urged Congress and the Bush administration to take steps to protect consumers from future price fluctuations and noted that increasing the percentage of electricity generated by renewable energy could save consumers money in the long run by reducing the demand for natural gas.

"By diversifying the electricity mix to include renewable energy, consumers would have alternative choices when prices rise rather than being held captive to the volatility of the fossil fuel market," noted Morrison.

The PIRG report cited examples of ways the U.S. currently uses renewable energy in 35 states, including Nevada's recent boom in renewable energy development after passing a renewable energy standard. In November 2002, Nevada Power Company signed six contracts that will add approximately 200 megawatts of renewable generating capacity to the utility's power supply. More than half of the new generating capacity will come from wind power, with the remainder coming from geothermal power.

"Last week, 247 members of the House of Representatives voted for an energy bill that is bad for the environment and bad for consumers," said Morrison. "The Senate is expected to vote on its energy bill in May, but neither piece of legislation currently includes a
national renewable energy standard that would boost production of electricity from clean renewable resources," she continued.

U.S. PIRG made the following policy recommendations:

• Create state and national "renewable portfolio standards" (RPS) to require an increase in the amount of electricity from renewable sources of energy, with the national standard set at 20 percent of power generation by 2020.

• Establish a public benefits fund to provide funds for energy efficiency programs, investments in promising renewable energy technologies, and low-income assistance programs.

• Produce national net metering standards that allow consumers who generate their own electricity from renewable technologies (e.g. a small wind turbine, a rooftop solar panel) to reduce their electric bill by getting credit for any power generated.

• Expand and extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for builders of renewable energy for at least five years and include wind, solar, geothermal energy, and clean biomass—specifically excluding municipal solid waste incinerators.

"While Congress is promoting legislation that would make our energy problems worse, the states are leading the way and generating solutions," said Morrison. "We urge the Senate to put America's technological know-how to work and replicate these successes across the country," she concluded.

U.S. PIRG is the national lobbying office for the state Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy groups. More information about the state PIRGs Campaign for A New Energy Future, along with the complete text of Generating Solutions, can be found at www.NewEnergyFuture.com/newsroom.