Savannah, GA—Environment
Georgia today unveiled the ten best opportunities to move America beyond fossil fuels and toward a
cleaner, more secure energy future for America.
The list is based on Environment
Georgia’s new report The Road to a New
Energy Future, which highlights numerous technologies to reduce U.S. dependence
on fossil fuels. It is the second of two reports that reinforce the importance
of an American commitment to moving toward a cleaner and more secure energy
future.
“With war in the middle east,
volatile gas prices, and the gathering storm of global warming, America needs a
new energy future,” said Jennette Gayer, Advocate with Environment Georgia. “We
cannot afford to pass up any of these golden opportunities,” continued Gayer.
Environment Georgia’s report shows that the U.S. already
has the tools to accomplish the goals of reducing U.S. dependence
on oil; harnessing clean, renewable, homegrown energy; and saving energy with
high performance homes, buildings and appliances.
Identified by Environment
Georgia as among the Ten Best Opportunities for a New Energy Future were:
- “Zero
Energy” homes and businesses. Buildings can generate as much energy as
they use by combining energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy
such as solar-panels.
- Farm
energy. The U.S. already gets about 3
percent of its energy from “biomass” -- plant waste and energy crops which
can be obtained from a variety of sources, from forestry industry residues
to crop residues to dedicated energy crops.
- Capture
the power of the sun. The
potential for electricity from solar energy in the United States is huge; Solar photovoltaic
panels, or PV panels, placed on just 7 percent of the area currently
covered by cities and residences could generate all of America’s electricity. The
price of solar energy has dropped dramatically over the last two decades.
- Change light
bulbs. Lighting accounts for about 9 percent of
household electricity consumption. If every American household replaced
its most highly used incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents, total
household lighting consumption could be cut in half.
- Put a
stake in the heart of the energy vampires. Replacing existing appliances with those that
minimize the energy wasted by “standby” power use could reduce energy losses
by 68 percent.
Also on the list were:
Hybrids and Plug-In Hybrids, Efficient Industrial Motors, Solar Hot Water, Geothermal
Energy, Wind Energy
Environment
Georgia today also called on
all Congressional candidates in Georgia
to support the goals of a New Energy Future.
“The opportunity for a New
Energy Future is knocking and Georgians are calling on our leaders to answer,”
said Gayer. “We need a national commitment to put these clean energy tools in
the hands of the individuals and businesses that will build our energy future,”
continued Gayer.
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Environment Georgia is a statewide non-profit
and non-partisan environmental group.
More than 250
environmental, consumer, labor, and civic groups have endorsed the New Energy
Future platform to take advantage of these opportunities to reduce oil use,
promote the use of renewable energy, and help Americans save energy.
