Sierra Club, Renewable Energy Experts Unveil
Groundbreaking Report
Roadmap Details Plan for
Tackling U.S. Global Warming
Emissions
by 2050
Using Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Alone
(Washington, DC)- Today
on Capitol Hill the Sierra Club joined with the
American Solar Energy Society
(ASES), key Congressional chairmen and
representatives, and the nation’s
preeminent climate scientist to unveil a
new report authored by ASES that
lays out a plan for dramatically reducing
the nation’s global warming
emissions. The roadmap--now the official
Sierra Club global warming
strategy--details how an aggressive, yet
achievable increase in the use of
energy efficiency and renewables alone
can achieve a 60-80% reduction in U.S.
global warming emissions by 2050.
"This report moves the discussion from
whether we can achieve the necessary
reductions in global warming pollution
with energy efficiency and renewable
energy in this country to exactly how we
should do it," said Carl Pope,
Sierra Club Executive Director. "Fully
three-quarters of the reductions in
global warming pollution called for by
Dr. Hansen and other scientists can
be realized using energy efficiency,
wind, and solar--all technologies we
have today. The rest can be made
with geothermal, biofuels, biomass, and
other renewables. We already
have the best, cheapest, and cleanest
solutions at our disposal; now we just
need the market and our political
leaders to put them to
work."
Climate scientists agree that in order to prevent the most
catastrophic
effects of global warming we need to halt the growth of our
emissions
immediately and begin reducing them within the decade. The
peer-reviewed
report, "Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.," is authored by
scientists
from the American Solar Energy Society, many of whom are employed
by our
nation’s national research laboratories. It identifies the
renewable
energy resources available across the U.S. that can be used to
transition
away from the dirty, fossil fuel-based energy economy of yesterday
toward
the clean energy technologies that will fuel the economy of
tomorrow. The
report brings together detailed analyses of various smart
energy solutions,
including energy efficiency solar (both photovoltaic and
concentrating),
wind, biofuels, biomass, and geothermal.
"This roadmap
gives us both a destination--60-80% emissions reductions by
2050--and a plan
for how to get there using the best smart energy solutions
like efficiency
and renewables," said Dave Hamilton, Director of the Sierra
Club’s Global
Warming and Energy Program. "Dollar for dollar, these clean
energy
solutions are the best choices for America. There is no reason
to
invest tens of billions more in the outdated, environmentally
and
economically irresponsible technologies of yesterday like coal and
nuclear
when we can have efficient, clean energy at a reasonable cost.
If we want
to build a new energy economy based on clean energy and new,
good-paying
manufacturing jobs, this is the road to get there."
Key
findings of the report:
· We can reduce carbon
emissions by 1,100-1,200 million metric tons
annually by 2030 with
aggressive
deployment of energy efficiency and
renewable energy alone;
· 82% of necessary reductions
in carbon emissions can come from wind,
solar, and increased energy
efficiency.
Biomass, biofuels,
and geothermal could comprise the
rest;
· This plan would achieve the U.S. share of
reductions required to
stabilize atmospheric CO2 levels
at
450-500 parts per
million and limit additional average temperature rise to
1°C above 2000
levels.
The report was unveiled at a Capitol Hill
event featuring Rep. Henry
Waxman, Chairman of the House Government Reform
and Oversight Committee;
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Chairman of the Senate Energy
Committee; Rep.
Christopher Shays; preeminent NASA climate scientist James
Hansen; Carl
Pope; Dr. Chuck Kutcher, ASES member, renewable energy
researcher and
editor of the report; and Brad Collins, ASES executive
director.
-------------
Contact Josh Dorner for hard copies of the
report and reproductions of the
key maps and charts from the report, as
featured at the news conference.
The full report can be downloaded
at:
www.ases.org/climatechange/
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