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United States fails to capitalize renewable energy opportunities
19/Sep/2006: With renewable energy technologies getting more competent everyday, the federal government’s energy policies in United States is hampering development of renewable energy sources in the country, according to a report released by U.S researchers. The energy policies have failed to encourage rapid development of renewable energy sources and at the same time continued to pour subsidies into oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy.
The report said that the country has a strong reason to amend its energy policies, to encourage the use of renewable energy technologies on a larger scale, as the environmental costs of fossil fuels are becoming more evident every passing day. Renewable energy sources meet only 6% of the total energy demand of United States. 90% of the renewable energy produced in this country comes from biomass and hydropower plants.
According to the report, the energy policies in U.S have deterred investors and companies from investing in renewable energy technologies and the nation has failed to capitalize the global trend that saw advances in technologies and growth in renewable energy production. U.S has enough resources to support production of renewable energy, like, vast prairies with winds powerful enough to generate electricity cheaply and solar resources that could enhance the current energy generating capacity by many times.
Countries like Germany, Spain, Japan, Brazil and China have taken the lead in the production of renewable energy, but U.S has seen a decline in renewable energy production when compared to these countries. For example, the country’s share in the global production of solar cells slipped from 44% in 1996 to 9% in 2005. The investments in renewable energy technologies still lacks enough support from the government, unlike in the case of fossil fuels, even after the government extended tax credits to renewable energy production, recently.
The report wants the federal government to establish a long-term framework on the investments and tax credits in renewable energy and adopt new pricing strategies that could make renewable energy more attractive to the consumers. According to the report, the key to a bright American Energy future lies in a robust partnership between the government and private players and in providing incentives to start new energy industries.
Kesavan Siva
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