Can We Meet Our Energy Needs with Homegrown Renewables?

Twenty three states could meet all of their electric power needs with renewable energy sources available within their boundaries, according to a report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR).

The ILSR report also said seven more states could produce 75% of their energy needs with homegrown fuels and that all states could develop a significant percentage of the power they need. In fact, all 36 states with renewable energy goals or mandates should be able to meet those goals with renewable sources within their borders, the report adds. (Recovery Act-funded federal programs now provide grants and loans for local governments to develop and implement renewable sources and the Smart Grid technologies needed to make that happen.)

The 32-page report, Energy Self-Reliant States, concentrates on onshore and offshore wind, solar power and geothermal power. ILSR, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., promotes environmentally focused community development.

It also recommends that federal energy policy should encourage all states, communities, businesses and households to make the most of the renewable energy sources available to them. That policy also would promote low-carbon energy strategies coupled with strong renewable energy-based economic development planning.

But the report also contends that federal energy policy now concentrates on tapping renewable energy sources in only a small number of states, building extra-high voltage transmission networks and moving power over great distances to remote customers. According to the report's authors, the justification for concentrating on the extra-high voltage lines is that while renewable sources are located in many areas, actual availability and the cost of developing and integrating them into the electric grid are very inconsistent.

The report argues that while states richer in renewable energy sources can produce it more cost-effectively, the cost of building new transmission lines and line loss (the electricity lost as it is being transmitted) can be the same or higher than local production with far fewer transmission line improvements or construction. The conclusion the authors draw from this is that centralized renewable energy strategies may not make economic sense, regardless of the yardstick used to measure cost-effectiveness.

   ILSR renewables report (pdf)

   North American Windpower article