Power generation from polluting, non-renewable resources has lead to serious impacts on human health, wildlife, plants and the natural environment. The long list of detrimental consequences from our reliance on fossil fuel combustion and nuclear fission includes:
- acid rain
- urban smog,
- higher rates of lung diseases and heart failure,
- oil spills,
- contaminated drinking water,
- rising sea levels,
- mining impacts,
- climate change,
- ecosystem damage,
- nuclear waste disposal,
- national and global depletion of finite energy sources, and
- conflicts over the world’s dwindling non-renewable resources.
Renewable energy is generated from resources that cannot be depleted or that are naturally replenished when used at sustainable levels. Renewable sources include the wind, the sun, the ocean, flowing water, plant matter or biomass and landfill gas. Some renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, cause no air, water or waste impacts.
Using renewable energy helps to improve human health, reduces our national dependence on foreign oil, and helps to reverse some of the most serious threats from climate change. There are now significant renewable energy projects, such as wind farms, developing across the northeast. New York and Connecticut can be energy leaders by replacing nuclear, coal and oil in favor of sustainable energy sources for its fuel mix for electricity generation.
Current Fuel Mix for Electricity Generation in the U.S., New York State, and Connecticut
Coal |
Nuclear |
Gas |
Oil |
Hydro |
Other Renewables |
|
United States |
49% |
19% |
21% |
1% |
6% |
3% |
| New York | 14% |
29% |
22% |
16% |
18% |
<2% |
| Connecticut | 12% |
48% |
30% |
4% |
2% |
4% |
(Source: U.S. Department of Energy) |
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New Yorkers: Information about the fuel mix used to generate electricity in your service area
Clean energy for a healthy planet!
There are a number of policy initiatives that can help our nation’s energy shift towards clean, green, and sustainable energy sources. The damages caused by conventional energy technologies using carbon-based fossil fuels are never added to their price tag. That means that society and individual citizens end up subsidizing polluting power plants, instead of investing in clean technologies that benefit the public and the planet.
It is predicted that that fossil fuels, oil and natural gas, will still be the main source for a growing energy demand over the next 20 years The public, business and policy leaders can change the status quo by demanding energy policy that eliminates subsidies for oil, coal and nuclear energy and supports clean, domestic energy production by sustainable wind, solar, biomass, and tidal power.
Brookhaven National Lab Solar Project
A very exciting large scale solar project is currently underway in Eastern Long Island at the Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). The project, expected to be completed in 2011 is to be supported by BP Solar, the Long Island Power Authority, and BNL and will be located on site at BNL. On 195 acres, this project will generate approximately 37 megawatts of power which is enough to power 4,700 homes making it the first of its kind not only in New York State, but in the nation. This project will create hundreds of jobs, avoid the release of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and work to secure New York as a pioneer in solar technologies. This project works towards meeting the New York and Federal goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 by using renewable energy.
Taking the Red Tape Out of Green Power
How to Overcome Permitting Obstacles to Small-Scale Distributed Renewable Energy
Americans are increasingly aware of the importance of renewable resources in both reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, renewable energy technologies, particularly solar and wind power, are the most rapidly growing sources of electricity in the U.S.
Environmental and security concerns have also sparked interest in small-scale, “distributed” sources of electricity generation to reduce our reliance on large-scale, centralized power plants.
Despite the growing interest, homeowners and business owners looking to invest in these new sources of energy face multiple bureaucratic barriers to installing their own small-scale, distributed renewable energy systems. In the U.S., the greatest barriers to the expanded use of these systems stem not from technical obstacles, but from financial, political and social hurdles.
The Network for New Energy Choices has released a new report called “Taking the Red Tape Out of Green Power” that provides seven sets of recommendations for municipalities and states to overcome these hurdles to widespread deployment of distributed renewable energy, focusing on the most common technologies – solar photovoltaics (PV) and small wind turbines.
Updated by bsmith 3/31/10