New report outlines bold vision for solar in US

THE WOODLANDS, USA: The Management of Evolution Solar Corp. has stated that they were very pleased with a new report from Environment America that outlines a vision for using the sun to meet 10 percent of the United States’ energy needs by 2030.

Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and three solar business executives have joined with Environment America to create a new awareness of the report’s vision for the future of solar energy in the US.

“At a time when we spend $350 billion importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries every year, the United States must move away from foreign oil to energy independence,” Senator Sanders said. “A dramatic expansion of solar power is a clean and economical way to help break our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, improve our geopolitical position, and create good-paying green jobs.”

“Building a Solar Future: Repowering America’s Homes, Businesses and Industry with Solar Energy” examines a wide variety of solar technologies and tools, including photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, solar water heaters, solar space heating, and passive solar design. The report makes the case that there are many ways to take advantage of the sun’s energy. Solar energy can be converted to electricity, or used for lighting, heating and cooling. It can replace the fossil fuels we burn at electric power plants, in factories, in our homes, and even in our cars.

The report finds that getting 10 percent of our energy from solar energy within two decades is equivalent to the energy that the US currently produces at nuclear power plants, more than half the energy currently consumed in American cars and light trucks, or nearly half as much energy as we currently obtain from burning coal.

Solar energy can play a major role in weaning the nation from dangerous, polluting, unstable and, in many cases, increasingly expensive forms of energy.

Environment America called on local, state and federal governments to commit to expanding solar energy. This can be accomplished by adopting strong policies to make solar energy an important part of America’s energy future. Environment America recommends: investing in solar technologies, research and development; requiring that utilities get more of their electricity from renewable resources like solar; requiring that buildings codes move towards all new buildings using zero net-energy; educating the public and training an effective workforce.