Rand Corp.: Renewable Fuels May Provide 25% of US Energy by 2025

[nodular]

This post is paraphrased from a Wall Street Journal article today, Monday, November 13, 2006 (page A10). I can't cut and paste because it's from the paper newspaper, and I have never figured out how to use my scanner.

The Rand Corp.---that's right the people who usually do defense-related analysis---have come out with a study as indicated in the subject line above. The study shows that the costs of ethanol, wind power, and other forms of renewable energy are falling, and if the costs continue to fall at their recent yearly rates of decrease through 2025, they will be cheap enough to provide one quarter of the energy in the United States.

Currently however, renewable energy provides only 6% of the energy in United States and half of that is hydroelectric power.

The Rand Corp. is, of course, conservative, and as one might think, there is a conservative twist to the study.

"Rand researchers modeled more than 1,500 economic scenarios and found that in most cases, increasing the use of renewable fuels---which don't enlarge the atmosphere's carbon dioxide buildup---would be cheaper than federal regulations forcing the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, about a third of which come from vehicles."

So, technically, the conclusion of the study is that the Federal government should do nothing to regulate energy emissions because the free market is going to take care of the problem anyway.

Still, there is some interesting information.

[Cafe Americano]

1. What's the motivation?

Unless oil prices go up, what's the motivation for private investment in alternatives?

[OzarkDem]

3. That's why public investment is needed

We shouldn't expect the private sector to do the research, there's not big financial payoff. Better to fund the basic research with federal grants and let the private sector do later development, when the basic research has come up with something.

[semillama]

6. did someone say investment?

http://www.terrapass.com/

How about every DU'er, while they donate to DU, also balance out their car's carbon emissions through terrapass? Costs me $40 a year.

[OzarkDem]

2. Surely we can do better than that

Make renewable energy research like the "Manhattan Project". Put a lot of scientists on it and give them what they need.

[bananas]

4. The complete WSJ article is free online

link posted in the E/E forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x71974

Welcome to DU!

[nodular]

5. Thanks