25 x ’25
25x’25 VISION
By 2025, America’s farms, forests and ranches will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant and affordable food, feed and fiber.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2004, 25x’25 formed around a bold vision – that 25 percent of our nation’s energy would come from renewable resources by the year 2025, while we continued to produce abundant, safe and affordable food, feed and fiber. Just as bold, we set out to achieve our goal by bringing together a broad coalition of stakeholders, from farmers to environmental activists and loggers to lawyers, as well as legislators, regulators and an array of organizations with an interest in a home-grown, clean-energy future for the United States.
Our vision was written into the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by the 109th Congress. Since then, our coalition has grown to include more than 900 organizations and dozens of governors. We have helped shape laws and rules that are changing the energy landscape and creating new opportunities for farmers, ranchers and foresters to help our nation reduce our reliance on imported oil and harness clean energy solu- tions from the land.
Between 2004 and 2009, renewable energy produced in the U.S. grew by about 23 percent. The clean energy sector set a record in May 2009, when renewable energy contributed 11.5 percent of all energy produced in the U.S, surpassing nuclear power.
We’re moving forward steadily, but thousands of barrels of oil gushing from a runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico each day remind the nation that we have a moral obligation as well as an economic one to accelerate the development of alternative energy sources and reduce our dependence on petroleum.
Clean energy generates more than power – it generates jobs. Research by the Pew Charitable Trust determined that clean energy jobs grew 9.1 percent, nearly triple the rate of growth of the total job market, between 1998 and 2007. By the end of that study period, the clean energy sector employed approximately 770,000 workers.
According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry alone helped support nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs and contributed $53.3 billion to the gross national product in 2009. For every megawatt of wind energy capacity installed, 16 to 19 new jobs are created, according to the American Wind Energy Association. And growing feedstock for biofuels and biogas helps keep America’s farms and ranches economically – as well as ecologically – sustainable.
At the same time, our energy infrastructure needs fundamental reform and transformation. The vast rural areas that can harness wind, solar and geothermal energy lack the high-voltage transmission lines and management equipment to bring renewable power to consumers, and existing lines are aging. The Department of Energy (DOE) has determined that 70 percent of the nation’s transmission lines and power transformers are 25 years old or older, and few new high-voltage transmission lines have been installed over the past decade. Though electricity sales have jumped 20 percent since 1996, transmission capacity has grown just eight percent – and not necessarily in the areas that will be generating clean energy.
Job creation and the need to improve our infrastructure has helped renewable energy gain a significant level of recent government attention. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – also called the stimulus package – included $37.5 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. However, the expiration of a critical production tax credit has depressed the production of biodiesel from soybeans and other farm products, and Congress has not yet adopted comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will establish a long-term national energy plan to guide America’s transition to a cleaner and more secure energy future.
Policy makers and stakeholders must recognize the critical and immediate need for a comprehensive energy policy and must work together to achieve strategies that not only protect our environment but also insure our energy supplies and enhance our national security.
The 25-percent renewable energy goal is a moving target. Current estimates predict that U.S. energy demand in 2025 will be nine percent higher than today’s levels, and those estimates will change as myriad variables – from energy efficiency technologies to the economy – fluctuate in the years to come.
Going forward, energy efficiency will play a key role in moderating the growth of energy demand and continuing to create jobs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included $16.8 billion for Department of Energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and energy legislation currently being considered by Congress has the potential to reduce energy demand by over 4 quadrillion BTUs in 2020 and create approximately 250,000 clean energy jobs. In addition, the reduction in projected greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 under some proposals would be equivalent to taking 49 million cars off the road.
Domestic energy production is a matter not just of economic security, but also national security.
Ninety-seven percent of our transportation system runs on oil, more than half of it imported. Many of the world’s oil-producing areas, including the Middle East, East Africa, Russia and Venezuela, are in turmoil, led by regimes supported by petroleum sales. As former CIA Director Jim Woolsey repeatedly reminds us, our continued dependence on foreign oil has us financing both sides in the war against terror. And every day brings us closer to peak oil, the point at which petroleum supplies begin to shrink rather than grow, creating additional imbalances and geopolitical instability.
When we produce clean energy and replace fossil fuels, we also provide high- value services that reduce greenhouse gasses. 25x’25 has consistently emphasized the importance of putting aside the debate surrounding climate change and participating in discussions on society’s interest in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. America’s farms, fields and forests are in a remarkable position to help reduce emissions and sequester, or trap, atmospheric carbon. Conservation tillage practices can reduce fuel consumption and its associated emissions and sequester millions of tons of atmospheric carbon in cropland soils. Grasslands and forests maintained for bioenergy feedstock production can capture millions more.
Our working lands can also produce the feedstocks for biofuels and biogas, provide the space for wind and solar projects, and harness a broad array of renewable energy resources – all while producing vital crops, providing ecological services such as wildlife habitat, and protecting our nation’s water and air from pollution.
The imperative to transition to a new energy future is even more vital now than it was when we set out our vision in 2004. Led by a coalition of diverse stakeholders from across the nation, we continue to forge a path to a cleaner, more secure and economically viable new energy future – one defined by ever-increasing amounts of domestically produced, renewable forms of energy.
It’s time for 25x’25 partners to build a bigger, even more effective alliance that can bring about the changes that will produce a new, clean energy future. A re-invigorated alliance can reach across national boundaries and lead a global movement to leverage solutions from the land that improve economies, create jobs, and make our planet a healthier, more sustainable place to live.
Join us as we work to bring the 25x’25 vision to life.
Download Full Report (PDF) – Meeting the Goal: A Progress Report
About 25 x ’25
www.25×25.org
“25x’25 is a rallying cry for renewable energy and a goal for America – to get 25 percent of our energy from renewable resources like wind, solar, and biofuels by the year 2025.”
Tags: 25x'25, America's Energy Future, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, Clean Energy, Energy, Energy Independence and Security Act
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