Clean Energy In the News

As we approach a new year and a shift in legislative authority at both the state and federal levels, various special interests are seeking to gain higher profiles for their issues.

Among those is the environmental lobby, which is making a push for greater development of renewable energy sources. Finding affordable, sustainable alternatives to oil, coal and natural gas makes a great deal of sense both from consumers' perspective as well as in terms of reducing pollution and enhancing national security.

Groups such as Environment Michigan, on the state level, and 25x'25, a national coalition, want to encourage lawmakers to adopt policies promoting renewable energy.

Environment Michigan, for example, is calling on lawmakers to reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuels and move more toward harnessing wind, solar, geothermal and hydro power. The group advocates for tax credits, energy efficiency programs and other incentives that will make it more viable to develop alternative energy resources.

Leaders of the group are particularly enthused about the potential of wind power not only to help provide electricity to more Michigan homes and businesses, but also to create thousands of new jobs in the manufacture of wind turbines. They say Michigan currently gets about 3 percent of its energy from renewable sources, and wind power has the potential to increase that number substantially.

On a nationwide basis, 25x'25 is pushing for the United States to produce 25 percent of the nation's energy from renewable sources by 2025. It claims the backing of more than 20 governors, including Michigan's Gov. Jennifer Granholm, along with 120 members of Congress and more than 300 organizations that represent a wide range of political views.

These groups and others like them also support efforts to reduce the nation's energy consumption and cultivate energy sources that do not pollute.

The technologies they promote are not science fiction - most exist today, but need greater support to become widespread. We recognize that not all such technologies are economically viable yet, but many are and deserve to be supported and promoted by government policies.

There are many advantages to renewable energy resources: They help reduce pollution, along with our nation's dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. Improving technologies that use resources such as wind and solar power ultimately will benefit consumers' wallets, since the supply is limitless. The amount of fossil fuel, on the other hand, is finite, with the price increasing as demand grows and supply dwindles.

Current policies favor fossil fuels because they have powered the world's industrial development for more than a century. But we are waking up to the fact that the cheap abundance of oil, coal and natural gas is rapidly diminishing. We have seen our nation held hostage to the demands of countries that control the diminishing supplies of these fuels.

Government needs to begin to recognize the long-term benefits of renewable energy, and shape its policies with that goal in mind. Future generations are bound to benefit from such foresight.