October 16, 2006—Renewable resources currently provide just over six percent of total US energy, but that figure could increase rapidly in the years ahead, according to a joint report released recently by the Worldwatch Institute and the Center for American Progress.
The report, American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security, says that many of the new technologies that harness renewables are, or soon will be, economically competitive with fossil fuels. Dynamic growth rates are reportedly driving down costs and spurring rapid advances in technologies.
According to the report, global wind energy generation has more than tripled since 2000; solar cell production has risen six-fold; production of fuel ethanol from crops have more than doubled; and biodiesel production has expanded nearly four-fold. Annual global investment in “new” renewable energy has risen almost six-fold since 1995, with cumulative investment over this period nearly $180 billion.
Some of the findings include:
- America boasts some of the world’s best renewable energy resources, which have the potential to meet a rising and significant share of the nation’s energy demand. For example, one-fourth of US land area has winds powerful enough to generate electricity as cheaply as natural gas and coal, and the solar resources of just seven southwest states could provide 10 times the current electric generating capacity;
- All but four US states now have incentives in place to promote renewable energy, while more than a dozen have enacted new renewable energy laws in the past few years, and four states strengthened their targets in 2005;
- California gets 31 percent of its electricity from renewable resources; 12 percent of this comes from non-hydro sources such as wind and geothermal energy; and
- Texas now has the country’s largest collection of wind generators. The US led the world in wind energy installations in 2005.
For the full report visit Worldwatch.
