Nevada's Promising Clean Energy Future
The Copper Mountain Solar 1 facility in Boulder City that President Obama visited Wednesday is certainly impressive. With nearly 1 million solar panels, the nation’s largest operating solar facility can provide power for about 17,000 homes without producing any harmful emissions or sending any money out of state for dirty coal or foreign oil.
Yet what is even more notable is that Copper Mountain represents only a small sliver of what Nevada – and the rest of the country – could be doing when it comes to clean energy. In Nevada, we can see all the potential for a cleaner, brighter and healthier future, one that will also be good for our pocketbooks. All it takes to get there is leadership and vision.
Consider:
-Nevada is one of the best places in the world for solar power, with an average 250 days of sunshine per year. The state’s geothermal resources are among the country’s best. Still, Nevadans spent about $11 billion on coal, oil and natural gas in 2008. Almost all of that went to foreign or out-of-state companies, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
-Nevada has the potential to meet more than half of its electricity needs through wind power, according to estimates from wind energy researchers. Yet wind power projects in Nevada are relatively sparse compared to other western states like California or Texas.
-Nevadans spend almost $2,000 per year on gasoline – about 5 percent of their income on average - and that amount is rising with ever uptick in gas prices. If Nevada drivers had options besides oil and gas for their transportation dollars – options like more public transit, favorable telecommuting policies, more efficient vehicles and different fuel sources like electricity and sustainable biofuels – they could cut their gas bills dramatically. Here’s another way every taxpayer can save money: Let’s stop giving $4 billion in annual tax breaks to the oil industry, which is enjoying record profits while the rest of us scrimp and save.
In addition to saving money, tapping home-grown resources that won’t run out and improving the health and the environment for all Nevadans, there’s another huge and badly needed benefit that comes with clean energy: Jobs.
As Sen. Harry Reid pointed out in a recent report, “Playing to Win in Clean Energy,” renewable energy companies in Nevada are creating thousands of new jobs and adding more than $1 billion to the state’s economy. Clean energy jobs pay $8,000 more than the median wage for other occupations in Nevada, and they’re expected to grow by nearly 11 percent between 2011 and 2016.
To be sure, President Obama is right to highlight the success of projects like Copper Mountain. The project is a powerful example that renewable energy is alive, well and very real - despite what we hear from the fossil fuel industry and its partners in Congress who are trying to convince us that clean energy is something dirty.
But while it’s important to acknowledge we’re moving in the right direction on clean energy, it’s just as important to remember we’re only getting started.
Clean energy can be a game-changer for Nevada and for the rest of America. With high gas prices sucking more money out of our pocketbooks with every fill-up, and global tensions with places like Iran threatening our oil supplies, the time couldn’t be better to develop more clean energy sources.
To do so, we need to continue supporting programs and policies that helps turn American innovation and ingenuity into more made-in-America renewable energy.
Americans want our leaders to build a clean, healthier, more secure energy future. They want our political leaders to level the playing field for renewables and help American companies and workers compete around the world.
We need to double-down on clean energy development, and we need to play to win.
-Peter Lehner is executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
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