Clean energy advocates have released a new report on the growth of the industry and why it's important to strengthen standards and investments in renewables.
Mike Foley reports.
The Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group reviewed statistics over the last decade related to solar and wind energy capacity, energy efficiency, electric vehicle sales, and battery storage. According to the report, America currently produces nearly six times the amount of renewable electricity from the sun and wind as it did in 2008. And last spring for the first time ever, wind and solar comprised10 percent of America’s electricity. The state of Ohio went from producing 1 Gigawatt hour of solar energy in 2008 to 260 Gigawatt hours now. Wind energy production increased from 15 Gigawatt hours to more than 1,500. The report also found that the average American today uses about 8 percent less energy compared with a decade ago. With nearly every segment of the clean energy market seeing rapid price declines and advances in technology making renewable energy more efficient, the groups are calling for community leaders and policymakers to set goals to meet all energy needs across all sectors with renewable energy by 2050.
