Faye for Congress

Faye's Core Issuesfaye

DEVELOPING RENEWABLE
ENERGY SOURCES

With Gas prices at an all time high of over $3 per gallon, the citizens of district 7 are becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of alternative fuel sources.

From the government website on renewable energy sources, we learn that Renewable energy sources can be replenished in a short period of time.  The five renewable sources used most often are:

The use of renewable energy is not new. Five generations (125 years) ago, wood supplied up to 90 percent of our energy needs. Due to the convenience and low prices of fossil fuels, wood use has fallen in the United States. Now, some biomass that would normally be taken to the dump is converted into electricity (e.g., manufacturing wastes, rice hulls, and black liquor from paper production).

Overall consumption from renewable sources in the United States totaled 6.8 quads (quadrillion Btu) in 2006, or about 7 percent of all energy used nationally. Consumption from renewable sources was at its highest point in 1997, at about 7.2 quads.
Historically, low fossil fuel prices, especially for natural gas, have made growth difficult for renewable fuels. A number of State and Federal Government incentives, including the Energy Policy Acts of 2002 and 2005, have encouraged the production and use of renewable fuels.

At the current rate, even with these incentives, the renewables share of the "energy pie" in the United States is not expected to change much over the next 25 years because we will also be using more non-renewable fuels. The use of renewable sources is also limited by the fact that they are not always available (for example, cloudy days reduce solar energy, calm days mean no wind blows to drive wind turbines, droughts reduce water availability to produce hydroelectricity).

That’s why renewable energy in various locally determined combinations will have to play an important role in the supply of energy into the future.

A key issue for industry is to determine the most efficient way to transport the energy generated to the end user.
 
When renewable energy sources are used, the demand for fossil fuels is reduced. Unlike fossil fuels, most renewable sources do not directly emit greenhouse gasses and thus do not contribute to global warming the way fossil fuels do.

The popularity of the Prius in district 7 (Toyota’s hybrid car), shows us a concrete way to the future to free ourselves from our ever increasing demand for oil.

As your member of congress I will support government programs that encourage the use of renewable energy sources and thus work to decrease our dependence on oil, and accomplish a simultaneous reduction in carbon emissions.