Renewable energy report encouraging for Nevada

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 9:37 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- With the support of Congress, the United States could realistically rely on renewable energy sources for 20 percent of the nation's electricity needs by 2020, a new report says.

Nevada could reap a windfall of benefits from new renewable energy plants, according to U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which today released a new report, "Redirecting America's Energy."

The nation should move away from traditional coal, gas and nuclear plants that pollute and, in the case of nuclear, produce a deadly waste that the federal government aims to bury in Nevada, the report said.

"Nevada is really positioned to be a winner with this policy," said Brad Johnson, U.S. PIRG spokesman. "This helps remove nuclear power and really could jump-start a whole new industry in Nevada."

Nevada has long been considered a perfect state for developing wind, solar and geothermal -- electricity generated from heat mined deep underground -- power.

But critics of renewable energy and even some of its supporters in Congress have said renewable energy will never be a significant part of the nation's energy production. They say renewable energy sources are impractical and inefficient. Critics say renewable energy sources cannot be a significant factor in U.S. electricity production in part because only certain areas of the country can produce near-constant sun or wind.

Renewable sources now generate about 2.3 percent of U.S. electricity. Coal plants produce about 50 percent; nuclear 20 percent; gas 18 percent and hydropower 7 percent.

The 20 percent goal for renewables is "almost certainly out of reach," said Jerry Taylor, director of Natural Resource Studies at the CATO Institute, a libertarian Washington think tank that promotes limited government. "It's hard to see how we could increase it in such a short period of time."

Taylor said energy analysts predict a slight rise in renewable energy generation, but only with significant government subsidies and mandates, such as states requiring that certain percentages of electricity be generated by renewable energy.

As U.S. PIRG was releasing its report in Washington today, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was speaking at a gathering across town of 200 nuclear industry insiders. Domenici, the Senate's leading advocate of Yucca Mountain, repeated a call that he has made for years: America needs to build new nuclear plants. Domenici has called for more renewable energy, too, but he has said nuclear holds the most promise for meeting massive energy demands.

Revitalizing nuclear power and producing more Nevada-bound radioactive waste in an effort to decrease greenhouse gases produced by coal plants is "trading one problem off for another," said Navin Nayak, environmental advocate for U.S. PIRG.

The U.S. PIRG report goads Congress to make a monumental shift in its priorities. It recommends that lawmakers use the subsidy and benefit money intended for fossil fuels and nuclear power for renewable energy development.

The shift would ultimately create more jobs than investment in fossil fuel and nuclear plants and save consumers money on electric bills, the group's report argues.

Renewable energy supporters acknowledge they will have a tough time arguing their case in a Republican Congress that has offered mixed support for renewable energy.

"It's a long-term strategy," Johnson said. "In some years we are more likely to find support than others. That doesn't change the fact that it's the right thing to do."

Bush's budget request to Congress last week proposed a 4 percent cut in energy efficiency and renewable energy spending. That included an 8 percent cut in geothermal energy programs.

Of significant concern to some Nevada officials is that Bush seems to be backing off support for offering a 1.8-cent per kilowatt-hour production tax credit for geothermal plants, said Dick Burdette, energy adviser to Gov. Kenny Guinn. That's a significant break for investors, given that it costs roughly 5 to 6 cents to produce the kilowatt-hour of electricity, Burdette said.

Nevada has 15 geothermal plants, mostly in the western half of the state, with four more under development, Burdette said. The plants mostly serve rural Nevada and California.

Bush proposes tax production credits for wind energy, which isn't fair, Nevada officials said.

"That hurts Nevada," Burdette said. "Skewing your investment toward wind doesn't make any sense."

Renewable energy lobbyists aim to convince Congress, which is reconsidering a comprehensive energy strategy bill for the fifth straight year, not to pick favorites, said Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association.