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NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY REPORT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 27, 1996
CONTACT: Matthew Freedman 202-546-4996 x352
Lisa Brooks 202-546-4996 x323
cmep@citizen.org
NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY REPORT CALLS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR
COMMERCIALIZATION ESSENTIAL, CRITICIZES CONGRESSIONAL CUTBACKS
While debate continues in Congress over the future of renewable
energy, a new report released today by Public Citizen shows that
government policies designed to bring new technologies into the
market are essential to the successful development of alternative
energy sources. After reviewing the experience of the Department
of Energy's (DOE) wind and ocean thermal programs, the study
concludes that government policy must couple laboratory
research with strategic efforts to deploy new technologies in
cooperation with the private sector. Key Congressional
committees have recently criticized DOE's efforts to develop new
renewable energy technologies with private companies and
recommended funding cutbacks in the fiscal year 1997 budget.
"America has a vital interest in renewable energy, and government
should work cooperatively with industry to manufacture and market
new technologies," said Lisa Brooks, Researcher for Public
Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project. "If Congress succeeds in
cutting off funds for commercialization, research efforts at DOE
will be undermined and the prospects for clean energy will be
placed at risk."
The report, Renewable Energy Sourcebook: A Primer for Action -
Section II: Wind and Ocean Energy, finds that current DOE
programs have benefitted from difficult lessons learned during
the 1970s and 80s by ensuring that federal money is used to
leverage substantial private investment in new technology
development. This approach, according to the authors, is
essential to avoid the problems experienced in the early wind and
ocean energy programs.
Early wind programs in the late 1970s rushed to build large-scale
machines prematurely and fully funded the work of large defense
contractors at the expense of smaller, more innovative companies.
When government funding for the large prototypes ended, defense
contractors lost interest and failed to invest their own money.
Not one of the companies funded to develop a large prototype is
actively designing or manufacturing wind technologies today.
At the other end of the spectrum, government support for ocean
thermal technologies failed to include working with private
sector partners and the program never provided sufficient
information on how the systems would perform. DOE severely
scaled back support for ocean energy in 1981 just as the program
was set to share the costs of building full-scale plants with
private companies. According to the authors, "had this effort
gone forward, federal support for ocean energy technologies could
have become a major success story." Instead, ocean energy
systems never made it into commercial production.
"DOE's failure to commercialize ocean energy systems stands as a
stark example of the risks inherent in abandoning new
technologies without providing adequate follow-through," said
Matthew Freedman, Energy Policy Analyst with Public Citizen. "We
cannot afford any more missed opportunities with wind and other
renewable energy technologies."
Renewable energy programs were slashed by 30 percent last year,
and some members are poised to cut even further into DOE's work
with small renewable energy businesses. In the Fiscal Year 1997
House Budget Resolution, Budget Committee Vice-Chairman Robert
Walker (R-PA) called for phasing out federal support for bringing
emerging renewable energy and efficiency technologies into the
marketplace while still providing ample funding for corporate
giants like Westinghouse and General Electric to work on new
nuclear reactor designs.
"Bob Walker would take us back to the failed energy policies of
the Reagan years. By prematurely dropping support for renewable
energy programs, Congress would sabotage the last two decades of
federal research," said Freedman. "The renewable energy
industries are still in their infancy and face many barriers to
competing with conventional energy technologies. Repeating the
mistakes of the early 1980s would only harm small, innovative
companies that promise to be the engine of future economic
growth, jobs and exports."
The Public Citizen report praises DOE's current wind energy
commercialization strategy and concludes that "DOE support will
be critical to ensuring that the next generation of wind
technologies meets the needs of new buyers, varied resource
conditions and severe cost pressures." The need for government
involvement is enhanced by the uncertainty resulting from
electric utility restructuring, which has "caused utilities to
virtually halt investments in new power plants, especially wind
energy facilities."
In light of concerns over the pollution and price volatility
associated with fossil and nuclear fuels, the report concludes
that "the increased use of renewable resources will move the
nation towards a more sustainable energy path that will result in
a cleaner environment, economic growth and affordable prices for
consumers."
Copies of the Renewable Energy Sourcebook: A Primer for Action
- Section II: Wind and Ocean Programs are available for $15 from the
Public Citizen publications office (202-588-1000). Discounts are
available for public interest organizations.
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Public Citizen is a non-partisan consumer advocacy organization
founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. The Critical Mass Energy Project
is its energy policy arm.
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