With growing public concern about energy and our overdependence on oil, we have an unprecedented opportunity to put Georgia, and the rest of the country, on a new energy path. That’s why Environment Georgia has launched the Campaign for a New Energy Future, to promote real solutions to our current energy problems.

Since the launch of our campaign this fall we’ve worked to build support across Georgia and in Congress for a platform that will change the way we use and generate power.

Environment Georgia is calling on representatives to support policies that will:

• Reduce our dependence on oil by saving one-third of the oil we use today by 2025. Through improved gas mileage, better transportation choices and clean fuels, we could easily save more than twice the amount of oil we import from the Persian Gulf.

• Harness clean, renewable energy sources like wind, solar and farm based bio-fuels for at least a quarter of all energy needs by 2025. America has limitless potential to generate electricity from renewable energy sources—in fact, the wind that blows through the great plains is enough to meet the electricity needs of the entire country.

We can power our cars with renewable energy by using energy crops such as switchgrass and agricultural by-products.

• Save energy with energy-efficient homes, buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy than we do today. By building homes and offices that use less energy and improving the efficiency of appliances and industrial equipment, we can transform the way we consume energy.

•Invest in a New Energy Future. By committing $30 billion over the next 10 years to the New Energy for America Initiative, we could triple research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.

Environment Georgia’s campaign for a New Energy Future has been endorsed by a diverse group of organizations including the League of Women Voters, Republicans for Environmental Protec- tion, United Steelworkers Union, Sierra Club and Public Citizen.

Candidates from both parties signed on as endorsers in Georgia and around the country.

After Election Day we were pleased to thank and congratulate Reps. John Lewis, Hank Johnson and Sanford Bishop for supporting the New Energy Future platform.

We look forward to working with them in the 110th Congress to move America beyond fossil fuels and toward a cleaner energy future.