Political Discussions

Political Discussions » General Discussion

U.S. cuts red tape on offshore renewable energy

Posted by timethief • 3/19/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: offshore renewable energy projects, renewable energy production

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the aim of ending a regulatory turf war, U.S. government agencies on Tuesday said they would work together to cut red tape and spur development of offshore renewable energy projects.

Under the agreement, the Interior Department will have jurisdiction over offshore wind and solar energy projects, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will oversee offshore projects that generate electricity from wave and tidal currents.

"This agreement will help sweep aside red tape ... our renewable energy is too important for bureaucratic turf battles to slow down our progress," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

President Barrack Obama has made developing alternative energy sources a centerpiece of his new administration, but he needs cooperation among a host of agencies to spur development and reach the goal of doubling renewable energy production over the next three years.

Acting FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said the permitting procedures forged between the two agencies "will help get renewable energy projects off the drawing board and onto the Outer Continental Shelf."

Read the full article -->
www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE52G50X20090317?feedType=RSS&...

Discussion Question:
Do you think the goal of doubling renewable energy production over the next three years will be achieved?

User Comments

3/19/09

polybore

Doubling renewable energy production in the next three years is not achievable.

If we take the current the current US percentage of renewable produced power to be 8%. And the us annual electrical consumption to be 4157 million Mega Watt Hours then in order to meet this target of doubling renewable generation to 16% then renewable power production needs to be increased by 332 million Mega Watt Hours (year).

To put this into perspective, Solana (Arizona), the proposed world's largest Solar power plant is estimated to potentially be able to produce 900,000 megawatt hours (year).

In order to achieve this target the US would be required to build not just one huge solar power plant but about 332 of them plus the substations, pylons and cabling.

Obviously renewable energy is not just solar power however the example above shows how large (and improbable) the task is within the time frame.

(polybore skulks off to tidy this up for a blog post, thanks for the inspiration).

[reply]
3/19/09

timethief

I sincerely doubted that doubling could be achieved also.

[reply]
3/20/09

welly

i think Obama have ggod concern in renewable energy ..

[reply]
3/20/09

Agit8r

the only truly green energy, is that which doesn't get used

[reply]
1. 3/22/09
  
  opinionhun
  
  I agree with you, Agit8r! What can an average internet user do to save energy? Well, if Google is your internet homepage, you can change it to blackle (energy saving search) One small step!
3/20/09

satijournal

It's worth a try. What do we have to lose?

[reply]
1. 3/20/09
  
  timethief
  
  It would appear that there's nothing to lose when it comes to investing into off shore wind and wave power. Hopefully, incentive funding from the public purse will not be required.