August 2, 2007
Southeast States Would Benefit from National Renewable Electricity Standard, New Analysis Finds
National Standard Would Generate Jobs, Reduce Electric Bills, and Cut Global Warming Pollution Across the Country
WASHINGTON (August 2, 2007) – On the eve of a House energy bill vote, a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shows that the Southeastern United States – a region often characterized as a potential net loser in a renewable energy economy – would reap significant economic benefits from a federal requirement that utilities generate at least 20 percent of their power from clean, renewable energy sources by 2020. Reps. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Todd Platts (R-Pa.), and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) introduced an amendment yesterday that sets a 15 percent requirement by 2020, which would still offer substantial economic benefits to the region.
A national renewable electricity standard (RES) would help the Southeast reduce energy costs for homeowners, small businesses, and larger industrial facilities, and boost new investment in renewable energy technologies, according to UCS. With lower electricity and natural gas prices, Southeast residents would save $750 million cumulatively by 2020, with savings continuing to increase to more than $4.5 billion by 2030.
A national 20 percent by 2020 RES also would bolster the region's economy by encouraging the development of the Southeast's local energy sources and reducing the amount of money spent on importing coal and nuclear fuel from other parts of the nation and world. In 2005 alone, the region spent $7.3 billion on coal imports, more than a third from Wyoming. A renewable standard could keep money in the local economy. For example, UCS calculations show that Southeast landowners who produce bioenergy such as switchgrass or forestry residues would stand to gain $2.7 billion per year by 2020, with cumulative revenues of nearly $9.5 billion.
"Contrary to popular belief, we found that the Southeast would stand to gain big-time from a national electricity standard," said Marchant Wentworth, Washington representative for UCS's Clean Energy Program. "Who could argue with a program that would mean lower electric bills, more local jobs, and less pollution?"
With an already strong manufacturing base for producing renewable energy equipment, a 20-percent-by-2020 national RES would generate more than $5 billion in new capital investment for bioenergy, wind, and solar energy projects, according to the UCS analysis.
Recent UCS analyses such as this one show that the entire nation would benefit from an RES. Nationally, the organization found that a 20-by-2020 standard would generate more than 185,000 renewable energy jobs over the next 13 years in manufacturing, construction and other industries. In addition, farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners who produce biomass energy or lease their land to wind developers would earn $25.6 billion over that time. Consumers, meanwhile, would save $10.5 billion on energy bills through 2020 (growing to $31.8 billion by 2030) due to a reduced demand for fossil fuels and lower natural gas and electricity prices. Finally a national RES also would slash global warming pollution by 223 million metric tons a year, the equivalent of taking 36.4 million cars off the road.
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
