Clean Energy In the News

LEBANON -- Five years ago, Dana Gulino decided to leave her job as a property manager to pursue a new career in the developing industry of solar technology. The new position offered her a sense of making a difference in the world.

"I feel like I'm a better person at the end of the day," said Gulino, project manager at Sun Farm Network, based in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. "It's hard to find a job that pays the bills and also makes you feel good."

Environmental advocates and a state assemblyman gathered Tuesday at the company's Lebanon facility to release Environment New Jersey's report on the rising cost of fossil fuels and the need for renewable energy sources. Fossil fuel consumption contributes to global warming, leading to rising sea levels, reduced food production and other environmental damage, according to the advocacy group.

Between 2010 and 2030, New Jersey is set to spend up to $888 billion on oil, coal and other fossil fuels, according the group. The state's per-person cost of fossil fuel expenditures is set to increase by $740, or 23 percent, between 2006 and 2030, according to the report.

"It's hitting us in our pocketbooks," said Doug O'Malley, field director for Environment New Jersey. "We have another choice. We don't have to accept the status quo."

The new report comes a few days after a bill was approved Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives, mandating a reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation now rests with the Senate.

Pointing to an already strong track record of clean energy initiatives in New Jersey, Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula, D-Somerset/Middlesex, said Tuesday the focus needs to be on developing new energy sources as well as energy conservation.

A bill sponsored by Chivukula would allow groups of homeowners to set up renewable energy systems and sell excess energy back to the grid, he said.

"It's a combination. There's no single solution," Chivukula said during the event. "We have to show leadership. We have to work together."

Environment New Jersey's report is based on projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's "Annual Energy Outlook 2009."

Caution urged as time can bring changes

A federal economist and two Rutgers University professors cautioned such projections are always subject to change, given potential developments in technology, public policy and market forces. A federal report in the 1970s predicted no growth in coal mining but was followed by two decades of increased productivity, according to Michael Mellish, an Energy Information Administration economist.

"Certainly there's a lot of uncertainty in the prices of fuel," Mellish said.

Increasing worldwide energy demand and efforts to address global warming are expected to increase energy prices, said Clinton Andrews, director of the Urban Planning and Policy Development Program at Rutgers.

A past Rutgers study has shown that many environmental improvements can be made without a sizable economic impact on energy consumers, Andrews said. He added, however, that government and private funding for energy research and development falls behind the amounts spent in the pharmaceutical and other industries.

"That means we're not trying very hard," Andrews said.

Solar expensive but best option, expert suggests

Renewable energy can help mitigate the effects of volatile pricing of fossil fuels, but New Jersey has limited space to utilize such technologies, according to Frank Felder, director of the Center for Energy, Economic & Environmental Policy at Rutgers.

Solar energy might be the best option in New Jersey but it remains the most expensive of renewable energy technologies, Felder said. Increased demand for solar energy should help reduce prices, he said.

"We really need to drive down the cost of solar," Felder said.