Sustainable Energy in America 2013 Factbook
Bloomberg Finance L.P. and The Business Council for Sustainable Energy have released a factbook summarizing the role played by sustainable energy technologies in the American energy picture as of the end of 2012.
The factbook offers some simple, easily understood benchmarks on today's contributions of new energy technologies. It also provides information on finance and investment trends in the area. The Business Council, established in 1992, calls the factbook "the leading independent analysis and market intelligence for clean energy sectors in the U.S."
"A revolution is transforming how Americans produce, consume, and even think about energy. Traditional sources are in decline, while natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency are on the rise. These changes, which show no sign of abating, have far-reaching implications for US economic and national security interests."
Energy innovations, new technologies, and advanced applications make up the energy revolution, according to the factbook. It singles out lower-cost and higher-efficiency photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight to power, vehicles moved by alternate fuels, applied techniques for extracting "clean" natural gas from shale rock, and smart meters that monitor, modulate, and cut electricity consumption for consumers.
The publishers describe their approach as quantitative and objective, using clean energy broadly defined. However, the inclusive definition includes natural gas, a fossil technology whose extraction method and carbon footprint have caused considerable debate, as has its characterization as "sustainable"; and it excludes liquid biofuels.
The factbook does fill important data gaps, including better measurement of distributed generation than other sources. The natural gas information is useful for comparative purposes. Quantification of distributed power, storage, and efficiency is also welcome.
As claimed, the report offers more clarity to the frequently muddled details of energy production--although 116 figures (mostly bar charts) and 9 tables seems daunting for an 89-page publication. The authors report dramatic recent change in three areas:
- Total energy use fell 6.4% between 2007 and 2012, mostly because of advances in energy efficiency.
- Natural gas and renewable energy use have both increased. Other major energy sources such as coal and oil have experienced significant declines. (In April 2012, electricity generation from natural gas equaled that from coal for the first time in U.S history.) Natural gas now provides over a quarter of the nation's energy supply, and renewables (including hydropower) supply 9.4%.
- Lower- and zero-carbon power sources (wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower) provide more electricity than ever before. Renewable energy generation has grown from 8.3% to 12.1% in the past five years and was the largest single source of new capacity growth (17 GW) in 2012. Geothermal energy received far more finance investment than other sectors in 2011, and almost 50% of the total for 2012. Natural gas-fired power plants expanded capacity by 9%.
“These new energy technologies, which some still claim aren't ready for prime time, are already making a major impact on U.S. energy,” says Ethan Zindler, Head of Policy Analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “And the U.S. has only begun to receive the full benefit of lower prices for clean energy equipment.”
Some particular developments of the factbook are worth noting. The chart on utility spending on energy efficiency and electricity load control shows an encouraging positive trend over the past six years. Both the ACEEE state-by-state scorecard for energy efficiency policies and the comparison of contributions from gas and renewables to nameplate capacity across select countries offer some very useful comparisons. Energy Star-certified floor space in U.S. commercial buildings shows increasingly dramatic expansion, especially since 2007.
The report has two bottom lines. First, decreasing coal-related emissions more than offsets new emissions caused by increased use of natural gas. Second, the competition between renewables and natural gas may present a barrier to continuing development of renewable energy.
Analysts from the Center for American Progress applaud last year's forward motion in "increasing the diversity of the country's energy mix, improving our energy security, and rapidly shrinking our 'carbon footprint'–a major positive development for addressing climate change." The CAP report calls for improving our federal policies, strengthening state standards, and developing more consistency.
Award-winning science writer Sandy Dechert covers developments and environmental issues in conventional, solar, wind, biomass, large and small hydroelectric, and geothermal energy. She detailed events and policy at last fall's 18th UN climate change summit meeting in Doha, Qatar. Sandy has also reported on extreme weather disasters, including superstorm Sandy, winter storm Nemo, and the massive summer wildfires of the past decade.
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