Boosting Clean, Homegrown Energy Would Generate $3.5 billion in Local Investments
Download the full report.
As the new home of Illinois PIRG's environmental work,
Environment Illinois can be contacted with any questions regarding this news release.
Illinois
could reap $3.5 billion in new investment and generate 26% of total
electricity production from renewable energy such as solar and wind,
according to an analysis released by the Illinois PIRG Education Fund,
Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Environmental Law & Policy
Center today. Illinois consumers would also save $3.6 billion in lower
energy bills from a proposed national standard increasing the use of
renewable energy to 20 percent of the US energy supply by 2020, along
with energy efficiency improvements.
"Renewable
energy can be a terrific boon to the economy of Illinois," said Faith
Bugel, Staff Attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center.
"Illinois farmers could earn $8 million from lease payments just for
wind energy development rights. And Illinois has additional potential
for developing renewable energy from solar and clean bioenergy sources:
clean energy can be the new cash crop for farmers."
Illinois
currently generates less than one percent of its power from renewable
energy, but the state has the technical potential to generate all its
current electricity needs from renewable energy, enough to power 15
million homes, according to Illinois PIRG Education Fund's new report,
Generating Solutions: How States Are Putting Renewable Energy Into
Action. The new Illinois PIRG Education Fund and UCS reports show that
a national standard increasing the use of renewable energy power to 20
percent of the U.S. energy supply by 2020 would benefit both the
economy and environment of Illinois.
"Illinois
deserves a safe, clean, affordable and secure energy future, and we can
begin that process with a renewable portfolio standard," said Brian
Metcalf, Environmental Associate for the Illinois PIRG Education Fund.
"The good news is that renewable energy is coming online here in
Illinois. The bad news is that 99 percent of our electricity still
comes from dirty fossil fuels and nuclear power."
The
Illinois PIRG Education Fund report cited the commitment made by the
City of Chicago and the 48 municipalities forming the Local Government
Electric Power Alliance to purchase 20% of their electricity needs
within 5 years as just one of the ways Illinois is moving forward with
renewables.
"Illinois
gets more energy from the sun and wind in a few years than all the
known coal resources under it. From Chicago to Cairo, you can get your
energy from sources that don't pollute, don't run out, are more secure,
and keep spending local," said Mark Burger, Sales Manager for Spire
Solar Chicago and President, Illinois Solar Energy Association.
"Illinois has the choice between using clean energy and growing the
businesses and jobs that provide it, or neglecting clean energy and
seeing those jobs go elsewhere."
Moreover,
deepening Illinois' use of renewable energy has the potential to fuel
the creation of thousands of jobs in Illinois. The Illinois PIRG
Education Fund report noted that investment in renewable energy and
energy efficiency could create 31,000 jobs in Illinois by 2010 and
56,400 jobs by 2020. "We, as a union of over nineteen thousand members
and eight hundred signatory contractors realize the meaningful
potential of renewables, in both human and economic terms. Support for
new technologies leads to a cleaner, healthier atmosphere and the
production of worthwhile employment in the manufacturing and
construction marketplace," said John Prendergast from the IBEW-NECA
Technical Institute.
Last
year's passage of the Illinois Resource Development and Energy Security
Act set an explicit goal that least 5% of the state's energy production
and use be derived from renewable forms of energy 2010 and at least 15%
by 2020. However, it does not an implementation schedule, compliance
verification, or credit trading provisions.
"Illinois
has several homegrown examples of how renewable energy benefits the
ratepayer and the environment. We urge Illinois gubernatorial
candidates and the General Assembly to employ Illinois' technological
know-how to replicate these successes across the state," said Metcalf.
"We can create jobs and protect the environment by increasing the
amount of electricity generated by clean renewable energy to 20 percent
of our power by 2020."
