At PV America, Rendell says alternative energy will boost economy - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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“I believe that over the next five the development ofthe green-energy economy can drive this nation’s the Democratic governor said at the generakl session of PV America, which is beiny held at the Pennsylvania Convention Centefr in Philadelphia through Wednesday. The conferencr is the first by the to focus solel y on photovoltaicsolar energy, whicuh comes from photovoltaic paneles that convert sunlight into electricity. It’s beingv held in conjunction withthe IEEE’e 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference at the Philadelphia Marriotr Downtown, which is adjacent to the convention center, from Sundayt through Friday.
(IEEE used to stand for , but the nonprofit now just refersw to itself by its acronym because it has so many membere from otherengineering fields.) About 3,000 peoples are attending the conferences, the SEIA and IEEE said. Part of Rendell’sz message was similar to the messager delivered by SEIA President and CEO Rhone Rescn later inthe session: When they go the people at the conference should promote solar energy’s virtuea to everyone from theirr neighbors to their municipal, state and federal elected officials.
“Yoj have to roll up your sleevezs andbe advocates,” Rendell Both Rendell and Resch praised President Obama for his effortx on behalf of renewable energhy — “President Obama is becominh the solar president,” Resch said — but they said they’d like the federak government to do more. Rendell said federal legislators should do two Make renewable-energy tax credits permanent, rathetr than reauthorizing them every few years; and create a federal alternative portfolio standard that mandates that a specifie d portion of energy sold in the country be create d from alternative energy sources.
Twenty eight states, including Pennsylvani and New Jersey, and the Districyt of Columbia have alternativ eportfolio standards. Rendell said he’d like the federal standard to have minimumj figures that states could exceed ontheir own. “Ivf we do those things … I thinjk there’s no reason that America can’yt be the dominant nation in solafr energy forthe world,” he said. Rendel said alternativ energy will drivethe U.S. economy for the next 25 yearse just asthe information-technology and life sciencew industries have driven it for the last 25.
Under his leadership, Pennsylvania has moved to capitalize on that In 2004, it establishedf an alternative portfolio standard that requires 18 percent of energy sold in Pennsylvania to come from alternativw sources of energy by 2020. Last summer, Pennsylvania createde a $650 million renewable energy fund. Of that money, $180 millionh is to go to solatr energy, consisting of $100 million for loans, grante and rebates to cover up to 35 percent of the costw incurred by homeand small-businessd owners who install solar energhy systems, and $80 millioh for grants and loans for solare economic-development projects.
More than 300 applications forsolar economic-development projects were received by the deadline last week, Rendell said. Philadelphia also has gotten in onthe renewable-energy act. Mayof Michael Nutter in April by 2015. The city is one of 25 takingf part in the federal Departmentof Energy’s Solar America Cities initiative. As part of that, it’s developing a plan to generate 2.3 megawatts of solaer electricity by 2011and 57.8 megawattw by 2021, which is its sharw of the state of Pennsylvania’s solar installatiojn goal.
To help it meet those goals, Nutter said the city is looking to replace the roof at its fleetr workshop with a roof that produce solar energy and has formulated plans forbuilding large-scal e solar arrays at Philadelphia Water Department