May 17, 2008 | A stunning new report just issued by the Bush administration finds that for under 2 cents a day per household, Americans could get 300 gigawatts of wind by 2030. That would:
- Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 25 percent in 2030.
- Reduce natural gas use by 11 percent.
- Reduce cumulative water consumption associated with electricity generation by 4 trillion gallons by 2030.
- Support roughly 500,000 jobs in the U.S.
The report doesn't mention that this would require adopting policies the Bush administration opposes. But that's what elections are for.
Wind power is coming of age. In 2007, some 20,000 megawatts of wind were installed globally, enough to power 6 million homes. Sadly, most wind power manufacturers are no longer American, thanks to decades of funding cuts by conservatives. Still, new wind is poised to be a bigger contributor to U.S. (and global) electricity generation than new nuclear power in the coming decades. As I have written earlier, concentrated solar power could be an even bigger power source, and it can even share power lines with wind.
That means we can realistically envision an electric grid built around renewables: electricity with no greenhouse gas emissions, no fuel cost (and no future price volatility) and no radioactive waste. But while it is poised to happen, and other governments are working hard to claim market share, America will need a bold president to ensure leadership in these major job-creating industries of the 21st century.
Read more from Salon.
No comments:
Post a Comment