Wind power.
Solar energy.
Water power.
Those are some of the renewable resources at the center of the ongoing debate about the nation’s energy. Renewable energy comes from natural resources that never run out — like radiation from the sun.
The supply of traditional energy sources aren’t easily replenished, said Sarah Pralle, a political science professor with expertise in environmental policy at Syracuse University. And the traditional energy sources are going down, while demand for energy is going up. Said Pralle: “There’s obviously a gap there that we need to fill.”
Others say America still has plenty of oil, gas and coal to supply its energy needs for decades. Only seven percent of the nation’s energy comes from renewable sources today, according to the Energy Information Administration, which provides official statistics from the U.S. government. The rest: 8 percent from nuclear energy, 40 percent from petroleum (crude oil), 23 percent from natural gas and 22 percent from coal.
Support for those traditional energy sources was vividly captured during the recent presidential campaign as Republicans chanted “Drill, baby, drill!” in an exuberant show of support for offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
But the issue is not clear cut, even along party lines. Unlike many Republicans, for example, former presidential candidate John McCain opposes drilling in Alaska’s wildlife reserve. And President-elect Barack Obama, a Democrat, has voiced strong support for taking advantage of America’s coal supply, with the caveat that coal plants’ air pollution be limited. Obama’s has proposed that 25 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2025.
The debate over renewable energy has been gaining urgency because of several factors: The growing body of evidence that using fossil fuels contributes to global warming. American dependence on foreign oil as a concern for national security. And studies that show peak oil production is soon or has already passed.
But the continued resistance to evidence of global warming also complicates the debate. Less than half of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said global warming is caused by human activity. And even those who support renewable energies that don’t emit greenhouse gases acknowledge that the technology is not cheap or completely environmentally friendly.
Obstacles and solutions
So little of the nation’s energy comes from renewable sources because favorable governmental policies toward traditional energies like oil keep prices low, experts said. Advocates call for more investment in renewable energy sources.
Investing in renewable sources with tax credits and reducing subsidies for oil, natural gas and coal will make renewable sources more competitive, said Dereth Glance, executive program director at the Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment.
“We need to make sure we are able to support the development of multiple forms of renewable energy,” Glance said. “We need to be able to harvest renewable sources of energy locally to control costs and ensure abundant supply.”
One barrier to expanding renewable energy is the nation’s antiquated power grid, said Peter Wilcoxen, who directs SU’s Center for Environmental Policy and Administration. The problem of the grid’s limited capacity and transmission was demonstrated during the August 2003 blackout, when 50 million people in several states were left without power due to power line overload.
Without a grid upgrade nationally, the electricity from renewable sources would have to stay local, said Wilcoxen. And electric cars that don’t use fossil fuels — including Obama’s goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 — will remain a pipe dream.
Expanding the power grid would be expensive. But the benefits outweigh the costs, said Wilcoxen. Energy sources don’t release chemicals or gases, he said, so air pollution is reduced. This can reduce acid rain, alleviate health problems such as respiratory illnesses and slow global climate change.
A main part of this problem’s solution, experts said, is to implement a national set of policies called “Renewable Portfolio Standards.” This would require a certain portion of the nation’s energy to come from renewable sources. But Wilcoxen said a national standard isn’t as easy at it sounds.
The federal government has little authority to create such policies under the U.S. Constitution, he said. “That’s why it’s been up to the states to do that.”
New York state has taken that step. In 2004, the New York Public Service Commission set a target to have 25 percent of the state’s energy from renewable energy by 2013. At that time, 19.3 percent already came from renewable sources.
Here are some of the popular renewable resources in New York:
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Wind
One of the fastest-growing forms of renewable energy in Central New York is wind power, experts said. As of June 2008, the state had 13 wind farms. Each year, New York’s wind power saves 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to global warming, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The department also listed economic benefits: Long-term jobs for maintenance and manufacturing workers, short-term jobs for construction workers, local property tax revenue and payments to landowners.
Despite economic benefits, wind power has environmental tradeoffs. The primary concerns include the noise of wind turbines, disruption of landscape and killing of birds, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
But environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council have said construction of wind farms is still less environmentally destructive than almost all other forms of traditional energy.
- Solar
Solar panels, which adorn many rooftops in central New York, don’t need a great amount of space. They don’t need to be connected to a national grid, so they can be used in remote locations.
But solar cells’ initial costs are pricey, they can’t absorb energy at night and weather and heavy air pollution can affect how efficiently the cells can generate electricity.
Experts say the cells pay for themselves in the end. Some people with rooftop solar cells end up with negative electricity bills — the power company pays them, because the cell provides power for the whole house and puts its excess electricity into the grid.
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Water
Hydropower, most commonly from hydroelectric dams, is the most widely used source of renewable energy in the United States. As of June 2008, New York had 15 hydropower sites, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
But this renewable, though popular, energy source also comes with a number of problems. The dams have had dire effects on trout and salmon populations. The dams also alter the rivers’ paths, reservoirs and ecosystems, disrupting the environment.
Experts point to countries like Germany and Spain as an example of using these renewable sources successfully. These countries invested in wind and solar despite the high startup costs. America hasn’t followed suit , said Wilcoxen, the SU professor of economics and public administration, because “we’re too cheap.”
The Clinton administration proposed an energy tax in its first term to encourage people to shift away from fossil fuel use, he said.
“People were irate at the idea, even though it was explained at the time that other taxes could be lowered,” Wilcoxen said. “Until we’re willing to pay more for renewable electricity, it’s just going to be hard to make any progress.”
(Megan Saucke is a junior newspaper journalism and political science major.)
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