If you read just the headlines these days, you might think renewable energy in America is going the way of Solyndra. Don't take our word for it: a recent headline from Fox News declared "ENTIRE Solar Industry on Brink of Collapse."
We cannot allow long-time opponents of renewable energy to focus the discussion only on Solyndra (whose higher priced panels could not compete as solar costs came down) when we should be thinking about competing with China to win the next energy revolution. Why? Because the race is on to put the right policies in place so hundreds of thousands of new, good-paying renewable energy jobs will be created here, and not in China. With Bloomberg New Energy Finance reporting that for the first time ever, global investments in renewable electricity have exceeded investments in fossil fuel power plants, the question is not whether renewable energy is creating jobs; it is which country is going to lead the clean energy jobs revolution. We want it to be America.
The truth is we can win this race. The American solar energy industry is thriving, as is the renewable energy industry more broadly. Just look at the facts: we have doubled the number of solar jobs in America since 2009, and today more than 100,000 Americans work in the solar industry, at more than 5,000 companies in every single state. These include manufacturing, installation, and supply chain jobs.
Last year, we installed nearly 1,000 megawatts of solar power in the United States, more than double the amount installed in 2009. With the solar industry growing at a rate of 69 percent annually, it is one of America's fastest growing industries and is creating jobs all across the country. The cost of solar panels has fallen 30 percent over just the last two years, continuing a long-term decline in the price of solar.
As solar becomes more cost-competitive with conventional fossil fuels, everyone from Walmart to the United States Marine Corps is looking to solar. Walmart is installing solar panels at 130 stores in California and says "Walmart has reduced energy expenses by more than a million dollars through our solar program." The military is using solar energy with battery storage to fully power forward operating bases in Afghanistan, and Marine Colonel Bob Charette says for the Marines renewable energy is "about saving lives" by reducing the number of dangerous fuel convoys needed for resupply.
The wind industry is also growing rapidly. Texas alone has more than 10,000 megawatts of wind energy installed, which is equivalent in capacity to 10 nuclear reactors. Iowa now gets 20 percent of its electricity from wind. There are 75,000 wind energy jobs in America today, and more than 400 manufacturing facilities in 43 states. The price of wind energy has dropped by 90 percent since 1980, and wind electricity today is competitive with fossil fuels at 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt hour. At the same time, we are increasing American manufacturing of wind turbines, and now 60 percent of turbine components installed in the United States are made in America, up from 25 percent in 2005.
In these tough economic times, the story of renewable energy in the United States is actually a rare good news story. Renewable energy is helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, is making our nation more energy independent, and is cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
As with every energy technology in the past, federal policies play an important role in supporting renewable energy in America. Key among those policies is a provision known as the Treasury Grant Program (or 1603) which turns an existing wind and solar tax credit into a grant. This provides better financing options for American renewable energy developers and has helped to attract nearly $23 billion in private sector investments in renewable energy, supporting 22,000 projects. Unfortunately this program is set to expire at the end of this year, unless Congress acts to extend it. What is at stake in this fight? If this program expires, one study shows that financing for renewable energy projects would be cut in half, just at the time when renewable energy is experiencing explosive growth.
Although Solyndra is the major headline right now, the real challenge is that Congress is debating whether we can even extend the Treasury Grant Program and other important renewable energy incentives for another year.
Meanwhile, China outpaces the United States by a 2-to-1 margin in clean energy investments according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu. America needs to out-compete China on solar and wind, not surrender to China. At a time of nagging unemployment, with the middle class squeezed, and greenhouse gas emissions rising, it is imperative that our nation take the lead in creating clean energy jobs right here in America.
It is time to put in place stable, long-term policies to support these critical industries. Rather than fight to turn one energy company's demise into partisan points, it is time to point the way towards our energy future -- so that all Americans win.
Follow Sen. Bernie Sanders on Twitter: www.twitter.com/senatorsanders
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PERMANENT ENERGY:
- Energy from the sun. As long as the sun exists we will have an energy source.
- Energy from the Earth's core. The Earth has lots of heat energy in its core.
- Gravitational energy. Energy from the movement of the planets.
All the forms of energy humans currently use are just stored solar energy (oil, gas, coal) , and are very finite:
- The scientific consensus is Global Peak Oil production will happen about 2020.
- Gas production will continue for several more decades after that, BUT gas production does NOT follow the well defined production curve of oil but is subject to unpredictable sharp drop offs.
- Coal production should be able to continue for many decades, but the cost of production and usage will continue to increase.
The bottom line is if humans are going to survive, we need to shift most of our energy usage to the primary sources of energy (solar, geothermal and gravitational).
So the reality is we have no choice but to move to renewable energy as quickly as possible.
BTW - Hydrogen is NOT an energy source, but an energy storage media and it costs a lot of energy top make hydrogen.
Notice it is all about economics and if you want more solar, wind, nuclear etc, you need to tax rather than subsidize oil and coal. Lets start with a $100/bbl oil tax and equivalent on coal and eliminate payroll taxes and end up with more jobs. Lower payroll taxes = more jobs, higher oil prices = more alternative energy and better fuel efficiency.
It's not enough to address your opponent's arguments. You also have to be willing to confront your friends.
As Global Peak Oil drive up the price of oil, it will also drive up the cost of gas and coal.
The ONLY way for humans to survive at a reasonable cost is to move away form hydrocarbon based energy.
ONLY waste bio char using the char as fertilizer can actually reverse atmospheric CO2 in any major way, profitably, producing energy and fuels to back up solar and wind.
Solar is about the same price are nuclear or Clean coal. 15 cents per KWH. Don't believe the 3 cent worldnuclear lie.
Wind is half that cost, and waste bio char and bio fuels are half again.
solar wind and waste as above, is 24/7, forever, safe, clean, growing fast now, fast enough to replace nearly all fossil and nukes within 7-15 years.
Vote for the Warren, Kucinich, Grayson CPC progressive in the primaries over the blue dog DLC DINOs,
Vote for the Dems including Obama in the general since the GOP/Tea are anti republic, anti democracy, anti environment, anti green TORIES.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/06/10/solar-power-graphs-to-make-you-smile/ rooftop solar cheaper than nukes.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/18/offshore-wind-energy-cheaper-than-nuclear-energy-eu-climate-chief-says/
http://solarcellcentral.com/companies_page.html first solar 2.5$ per Wp installed.
http://www.plancanada.com/biochar_basics.pdf
Everything else is Fox Fossil Nuke PR.
Solar is now the cheapest electricity for millions of Americans and billions of people world wide. Before any subsidies. Rooftop pv solar is cheaper than nukes , both about 15 cents per KWH using conservative estimates.
WInd and waste bio char are less than half that.
Efficiency is half that again.
2% is fantastic!
Since green energy has been doubling every year or so, that means we are only 7-15 years from over 100% green energy. Forever. 24/7, clean safe, no nuke disaster, oil wars, of coal pollution.
See my other posts for links and backup.
Nukes get 500M$ per reactor per year, and coal and oil get even more.
Obsessing on the last few drops of oil won;t save us.
Perhaps one issue is that people want loud cars and the Volt is not loud at all.
Even if every square yard of the US was drilled, the US would still need to import 70% of the oil it uses while paying world market prices for every drop we use (that oil form Montana is sold to you at the global market prices).
"...has more than 10,000 MW of wind energy installed, which is equivalent in capacity to 10 nuclear reactors.."
Nuke reactors run 95% of the time, wind 20% so capacity equivalent of two nuke reactors at many times the cost and with close to 100% of the wind power/gas backup scam coming from gas backup.
In fact Kerry was instrumental in shutting down the world's ticket to a clean energy future when the silly and treasonous senator payed off by Big Oil donations, shut down the ready to build IFR gen iV reactor. Now its left to the British to build the American design, twenty years later.
Today's Solar and wind backed up by gas costs and including 5 to 10 times sized transmission builds cost 70 and 30 cents a kwh respectively and save no GHG's - massive emitters of air pollution from the gas backup. Add a buck a kwh for green storage - $60K per American household per annum in a zero carbon future.
Clean and green zero environmental footprint Nukes are 3 cents a kwh. Note the Senators miss that one.
Wind and solar investments create jobs only in the sense that hiring a group of thugs to smash windows and another group to replace them creates jobs. Everybody else loses jobs as resources are wasted repairing windows.
300-400 panels based on his utility bill......