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Smith wind energy amendment adopted
By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com
An amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., to the Wind Energy Research and Development Act allowing for research and development into the transmission of renewable energy from remote areas was approved this week by the House Science and Technology Committee.
Nebraska is sixth in the nation in wind energy potential but lacks the capacity to transmit energy, Smith said. His amendment would enable research and development of efficient and cost-effective high-voltage transmission of renewable energy.
"Transmission capacity concerns reside not only in rural areas but also in communities across the nation," Smith said on Thursday.
He said America has "tremendous energy potential," but the country needs to have the ability to create energy in one part of the country and use it in another.
"In order to become truly energy independent, we must continue to explore all forms of renewable energy, including wind energy," Smith said.
He said the United States must make the investment in its infrastructure to allow for transmission from remotely located, renewable-resource-rich areas, such as Nebraska.
While Nebraska ranks sixth in potential wind energy capacity, it lags behind in wind energy generation compared to surrounding states, such as Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas.
However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported this week that national production of renewable energy for the first third of 2009 was 6 percent higher compared to the same time period in 2008. Nebraska is the nation's second leading producer of ethanol. The majority of Nebraska's ethanol and wind production occurs in Smith's 3rd Congressional District.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration also reported that, in April 2009, renewable energy sources accounted for 11.1 percent of domestic energy production and exceeded the amount contributed by nuclear power.
For the first four months of 2009, U.S. renewable energy production included hydropower (34.6 percent), wood and wood wastes (31.2 percent), biofuels (19 percent), wind (9.3 percent), geothermal (4.7 percent) and solar (1.2 percent).
Most of those sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, grew compared to the first third of 2008, with wind expanding by 34.5 percent, biofuels by 14.1 percent, hydropower by 8.2 percent and geothermal by 2.6 percent.
Total U.S. energy consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fell 5.7 percent during the first four months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, with fossil fuel use accounting for almost the entire decline.
"As Congress continues to debate energy and climate legislation, it would do well to take note of the clear trends in the nation's changing energy mix," said Ken Bossong, executive director of the Sun Day Campaign. "Fossil fuel use is dropping sharply, and nuclear power is essentially stagnant while month after month the mix of renewable energy sources continues to set ever-higher records."
The Sun Day Campaign is a nonprofit research and educational organization founded in 1993 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.
John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, thanked Smith for successfully getting his amendment approved, but said he feels more incentives are needed to keep up wind energy's momentum.
One way to provide the necessary incentives to continue to grow the nation's wind energy industry, Hansen said, is for Congress to pass cap and trade legislation pending before Congress.
He said cap and trade makes the "dirty greenhouse-gas-emitting coal" heavier in the marketplace and non-greenhouse-emitting wind energy more valuable.
The whole idea of cap and trade is to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions economywide in what advocates say is a cost-effective manner.
Under the cap portion of the proposed legislation, each large-scale emitter, or company, would have a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas it can emit, and the firm must have an "emissions permit" for every ton of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere.
Under the trade portion, companies that find it relatively cheaper or easier to reduce their emissions below their required limit could sell their extra permits to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily.
That would create a system that guarantees a set level of overall reductions, while rewarding the most efficient companies and ensuring that the cap can be met at the lowest possible cost to the economy, proponents say.
The ultimate goal of controlling emissions of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel use is to limit the rise in global temperature by the U.S. government tightening the cap until emissions are reduced to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
Wind projects don't emit greenhouse gases, Hansen said.
Smith does not support cap and trade, saying it would increase energy costs to farmers and ranchers because agricultural production is heavily dependent on fossil fuel. The United States imports 58 percent of its fossil fuel needs from abroad, and that still could leave the U.S. vulnerable to price hikes, such as occurred last year, causing the farmer's cost of production involving fossil fuels to soar.
But Hansen said cap and trade is "tailor-made" as an incentive for wind energy and other farm-produced renewable energy.
"No other greenhouse gas regulatory system will be remotely as beneficial to the support of reducing our national addiction to foreign oil while our nation transforms our energy economy to a more economically environmentally sustainable and beneficial way to meet our nation's energy needs while dramatically improving our nation's national security interests," he said. "The status quo is aces and eights for America."
Nebraska is sixth in the nation in wind energy potential but lacks the capacity to transmit energy, Smith said. His amendment would enable research and development of efficient and cost-effective high-voltage transmission of renewable energy.
"Transmission capacity concerns reside not only in rural areas but also in communities across the nation," Smith said on Thursday.
He said America has "tremendous energy potential," but the country needs to have the ability to create energy in one part of the country and use it in another.
He said the United States must make the investment in its infrastructure to allow for transmission from remotely located, renewable-resource-rich areas, such as Nebraska.
While Nebraska ranks sixth in potential wind energy capacity, it lags behind in wind energy generation compared to surrounding states, such as Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas.
However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported this week that national production of renewable energy for the first third of 2009 was 6 percent higher compared to the same time period in 2008. Nebraska is the nation's second leading producer of ethanol. The majority of Nebraska's ethanol and wind production occurs in Smith's 3rd Congressional District.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration also reported that, in April 2009, renewable energy sources accounted for 11.1 percent of domestic energy production and exceeded the amount contributed by nuclear power.
For the first four months of 2009, U.S. renewable energy production included hydropower (34.6 percent), wood and wood wastes (31.2 percent), biofuels (19 percent), wind (9.3 percent), geothermal (4.7 percent) and solar (1.2 percent).
Most of those sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, grew compared to the first third of 2008, with wind expanding by 34.5 percent, biofuels by 14.1 percent, hydropower by 8.2 percent and geothermal by 2.6 percent.
Total U.S. energy consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fell 5.7 percent during the first four months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, with fossil fuel use accounting for almost the entire decline.
"As Congress continues to debate energy and climate legislation, it would do well to take note of the clear trends in the nation's changing energy mix," said Ken Bossong, executive director of the Sun Day Campaign. "Fossil fuel use is dropping sharply, and nuclear power is essentially stagnant while month after month the mix of renewable energy sources continues to set ever-higher records."
The Sun Day Campaign is a nonprofit research and educational organization founded in 1993 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.
John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, thanked Smith for successfully getting his amendment approved, but said he feels more incentives are needed to keep up wind energy's momentum.
One way to provide the necessary incentives to continue to grow the nation's wind energy industry, Hansen said, is for Congress to pass cap and trade legislation pending before Congress.
He said cap and trade makes the "dirty greenhouse-gas-emitting coal" heavier in the marketplace and non-greenhouse-emitting wind energy more valuable.
The whole idea of cap and trade is to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions economywide in what advocates say is a cost-effective manner.
Under the cap portion of the proposed legislation, each large-scale emitter, or company, would have a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas it can emit, and the firm must have an "emissions permit" for every ton of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere.
Under the trade portion, companies that find it relatively cheaper or easier to reduce their emissions below their required limit could sell their extra permits to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily.
That would create a system that guarantees a set level of overall reductions, while rewarding the most efficient companies and ensuring that the cap can be met at the lowest possible cost to the economy, proponents say.
The ultimate goal of controlling emissions of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel use is to limit the rise in global temperature by the U.S. government tightening the cap until emissions are reduced to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
Wind projects don't emit greenhouse gases, Hansen said.
Smith does not support cap and trade, saying it would increase energy costs to farmers and ranchers because agricultural production is heavily dependent on fossil fuel. The United States imports 58 percent of its fossil fuel needs from abroad, and that still could leave the U.S. vulnerable to price hikes, such as occurred last year, causing the farmer's cost of production involving fossil fuels to soar.
But Hansen said cap and trade is "tailor-made" as an incentive for wind energy and other farm-produced renewable energy.
"No other greenhouse gas regulatory system will be remotely as beneficial to the support of reducing our national addiction to foreign oil while our nation transforms our energy economy to a more economically environmentally sustainable and beneficial way to meet our nation's energy needs while dramatically improving our nation's national security interests," he said. "The status quo is aces and eights for America."
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