Saturday, September 21, 2013

Clean Energy 'Gaining Force'

DOE defends spending on wind, solar, says clean energy 'gaining force'
September 17, 2013 - In an attempt to counter the conventional wisdom that clean energy breakthroughs are always five years away, the U.S. Department of Energy declared in a Sept. 17 report that it has served as a catalyst for "four technology revolutions that are here today."

The report, titled "Revolution Now: The Future Arrives for Four Clean Energy Technologies," focused on onshore wind power, solar photovoltaic installations, LED lighting and electric vehicles. "Although these four technologies still represent a small percentage of their total market (e.g. electricity, cars and lighting), they are growing rapidly," DOE said. And like the hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies that have sparked a domestic oil and gas boom, all four of these clean energy fields have been supported to varying degrees by federal funding, the report said.

The study was released a day before Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is scheduled to attend a high-profile House subcommittee hearing on climate change. Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power are skeptical of climate science and the administration's efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which the majority of scientists believe are contributing to global warming. The specific findings in the DOE study could be used by Moniz to fend off GOP criticisms of the Obama administration's clean energy spending. read more>>>

Revolution Now: The Future Arrives for Four Clean Energy Technologies


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