Climate Change Action

There has been widespread coverage (Grist, Desmogblog, Celsias) recently of the lobbying efforts of a still prosperous but nervous coal industry. Most notably through significant funding for the 'Americans for a Balanced Energy Choice' (ABEC). Millions of dollars are going into buying the allegiance of key US politicians. However, i dont want to focus on the negative, after all we have always had this problem.

What is new, is the significant lobbying power of a nascent renewable energy industry. For example this message would not have been possible a few short years ago.

Resch highlighted 80 utility-scale solar projects on the drawing boards collectively representing about 56,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity generating capacity, more than 20,000 permanent jobs and hundreds of thousands of construction jobs. "None of these projects will be built unless the investment tax credit is extended," he said.

This is part of a report on a recent joint statement by the four largest US renewable energy associations, fighting for a clean future.

"Already, we are seeing sales and new project announcements drop off," the associations declared in a rare joint statement at a news conference. The associations include the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), National Hydropower Association (NHA) and the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA)."
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Labels: coal, energy and efficiency, solar, wind