Renewables Industry Stats

Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, Clean Edge Research - The Clean Tech Revolution - June 2007

• "A smart grid will look very different from today's system- enabling utilities to more efficiently deploy both centralized and distributed energy, and for customers to more efficiently deploy and economically monitor and manage their energy usage, adjust their consumption behavior, and more easily feed electrons from solar PV, fuel cells, and other distributed clean-energy sources into the grid."

Galvin Electricity Initiative - Galvin Electricity Initiative Web Site - FAQs - June 2007

• The existing system wastes two-thirds of the fuel it uses in the process of sending electricity long distances over far-flung lines. A transformed system would incorporate numerous distributed generation facilities that do not send electricity over long distances and therefore do not waste as much fuel. ...smaller scale, distributed generation can better utilize renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and even animal waste. In a transformed system, consumers would be able to track their energy use and choose how much they need at a given time, thereby making it easy for individuals to reduce their fuel consumption. Smart end-use devices, such as light sensors, will further add to household efficiencies. And a smart grid would direct power only to where it is needed in the necessary quantities.

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - “Nature’s Power on Demand: Renewable Energy Systems as Emergency Power Sources” - October 1995

• Besides bringing energy self-sufficiency to individual buildings, distributed, renewable energy systems can also improve the overall resilience of the nation's utility grid. The grid is one of the most reliable systems in the world, but it is prone to failures and glitches.
• An energy system made up of small, distributed energy stations is more resilient by nature, able to absorb minor errors and problems.
• If the nation's electricity system was more decentralized, the impacts of weather, natural disaster, sabotage, equipment failure or human error wouldn't be nearly as catastrophic. If smaller systems fail, fewer people are affected.

Arizona Corporation Commission - “Sunny Arizona to Dramatically Increase Use of Solar Power,” The Associated Press – July 2007

• Under the plan by the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state's regulator of public utilities, almost 5 percent of the state's energy must come from “individual” solar projects by 2025….The Department of Energy says that capturing the sun's energy on a piece of land the size of Lake Powell could take care of all of Arizona's power needs, and that the whole state gets enough solar energy to power the entire country.