A Powerful Partnership
Friday, October 28, 2011
By Elizabeth Cutright
The imbalance between cost and benefit is often touted as the main obstacle to widespread implementation of renewable energy. And that alternative energy price tag always looks particularly eye-popping when compared the expenses associated with fossil fuels. It’s the lure of the low-cost option that keeps us at hovering near number one on the list of the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels (www.wri.org/stories/2006/11/fossil-fuel-consumption-and-its-implications). By focusing on current use to extrapolate future demand, a sliding scale is crafted—with the cost of investment in alternative energy sources outstripping the power produced by those sources. Empowered by the numbers, the verdict is delivered: Alternative energy is just not as cost-effective as fossil fuel.
But that sliding scale is missing two key elements: increased efficiency and the powerful potential of distributed generation. Add those two factors to the mix, and the question becomes not “can we afford renewable energy,” but “are we paying too much for our current power supply?”
Even without adding in mitigating factors, our oil addiction does not come cheap. According to Environment America, the US spends close to $1 trillion on fossil fuels every year. The country spent $921 billion (or 7% of its gross domestic product) on fossil fuels in 2006, and Environment America estimates fossil fuel expenditures will total around $23 trillion between 2010 and 2030. When you add in all the hidden costs associated with fossil fuel consumption—like the health effects of air pollution, expensive environmental remediation, and the amount of money (and energy) needed to collect, treat, and deliver all the water needed to keep our energy systems running—the amount we really pay for fossil fuels is almost incalculable. One estimate—from a report released by National Research Council (NRC) in 2009—indicates that the US pays upwards of $120 billion every year in hidden costs associated with the country’s current (fossil fuel dominated) power generation system.
The report, generated at the request of Congress, also analyzes additional contributing factors—like climate change, harm to ecosystems, and risks to national security—but does not monetize those effects. According to the NRC report, most of the “hidden” costs of energy can be attributed to coal-fired electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation—$62 billion for the former and $56 billion for the latter. Although the NRC only included the estimates for the non-climatic change related costs—such as the financial hardships associated with impacts to health, agriculture, and infrastructure—the final conclusion is clear: Our current energy use has implications that go beyond debates about climate change or arguments about the costliness and viability of renewable and clean energy alternatives.
In a recent blog, I said that when it comes to the future of renewable energy, “we find ourselves suffering not from a dearth in energy options, but from a lack of imagination”, and I think that shortsightedness can also be attributed to energy efficiency and onsite power. As the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEE) points out, “national policies to improve energy efficiency can reduce oil imports, improve the reliability of the US electric grid, save consumers money, reduce air pollution, create jobs, and reduce prices.”
Depending on outdated models and blinded by tunnel vision, opponents of increased funding for clean energy technologies fail to take into account the rapid technological advances possible as a result of Moore’s Law. These naysayers also ignore the exponential growth in efficiency we’ve experienced over the last 10 years; thanks in part to green building initiatives, LEED certification, advances in lighting, smarter HVAC systems, and the almost unlimited benefits of Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Efficiency and onsite power go hand and hand, but as the nuts-and-bolts undercarriage of our power supply, they often operate effectively and invisibly.
Renewable energy captures the imagination—we can all imagine a landscape powered by shiny solar panels and every-spinning wind turbines under a smog-free sky. But renewable energy cannot stand alone; in order to succeed it must partner with distributed energy. We can make the transition from a fossil fuel-dominated power system to a cleaner, cheaper alternative by focusing on a plan that includes energy efficiency and onsite power, along with clean energy. By reducing our demand and using our resources more intelligently, we can indemnify ourselves against diminished resources and increasing costs. By incorporating the flexibility, reliability, and energy storage capabilities of distributed generation, we can go beyond our present oil guzzling, centralized energy system and move into a smart energy future.
Author's Bio: Elizabeth Cutright is the Editor of Distributed Energy magazine and Water Efficiency magazine |
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