nuclear-news

USA’s renewable energy future

Perhaps the biggest impediment for the US – and indeed for Australia – comes in reversing many of the subsidies for fossil fuels that are infused throughout the tax system and getting politicians to impose a cost on carbon emissions.

In the wind: America’s drive towards clean technology Sydney Morning Herald ANNE DAVIES, WASHINGTONJ anuary 9, 2010 “…..Barack Obama, facing the steepest downturn since FDR’s time, wants to transform America into a green machine, a nation that leads the world in technology and manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, technologies to make the electricity grid more efficient and long-life batteries

Can the US, the land of the internal combustion engine and the McMansion, where bigger is always better, really become a green economy?

Can it catch up to Germany, Denmark, Spain and even China, which have been fostering green technology for years?

And can the US achieve Obama’s dream without passing a scheme that puts a price on carbon?

There are plenty of evangelists for the new green economy despite the outcome at Copenhagen, which left the world well short of a binding commitment to lower global emissions……….

Perhaps the biggest impediment for the US – and indeed for Australia – comes in reversing many of the subsidies for fossil fuels that are infused throughout the tax system and getting politicians to impose a cost on carbon emissions.

A study by the US Environmental Law Institute of energy subsidies between 2002 and 2008 found that $US72 billion flowed to the fossil fuel industry, compared with $US29 billion for the renewables industry.

President Obama has begun reversing that, but he faces strong resistance from entrenched oil interests.

He faces a huge battle in 2010 to persuade his own party to support a cap-and-trade scheme that would put a price on carbon. At the moment he would struggle to get a simple majority in the Senate, let alone the 60 votes needed to overcome blocking moves by Republicans.

In the wind: America’s drive towards clean technology

January 8, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, renewable, USA | energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar