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

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“I believe that over the next five years, the developmentg of the green-energy economy can drive this nation’s comeback,” the Democratic governore said at the general session ofPV America, which is being held at the Pennsylvaniwa Convention Center in Philadelphia through Wednesday. The conference is the first by the to focuzs solely on photovoltaicsolar energy, which comes from photovoltaic paneles that convert sunlight into It’s being held in conjunction with the IEEE’s 34th Photovoltaivc Specialists Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, which is adjacenrt to the convention center, from Sunday through (IEEE used to stand for , but the nonprofirt now just refers to itself by its acronyk because it has so many members from other engineerintg fields.
) About 3,000 people are attending the conferences, the SEIA and IEEE Part of Rendell’s message was similar to the message deliveredf by SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch later in the When they go home, the people at the conferencde should promote solar energy’s virtues to everyone from theirr neighbors to their municipal, state and federal elected “You have to roll up your sleevesd and be advocates,” Rendell Both Rendell and Resch praised President Obama for his effortsa on behalf of renewable energy — “President Obamqa is becoming the solar president,” Resc h said — but they said they’s like the federal government to do more.
Rendell said federal legislators should do two Make renewable-energy tax credits permanent, rather than reauthorizinf them every few and create a federalp alternative portfolio standard that mandatez that a specified portionh of energy sold in the country be create d from alternative energy sources. Twentg eight states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbiaw have alternativeportfolio standards. Rendell said he’d like the federal standardd to have minimum figures that states could exceede ontheir own.
“If we do thos things … I think there’sz no reason that America can’ t be the dominant nation in solard energy forthe world,” he said. Rendel said alternative energuy will drivethe U.S. economy for the next 25 years just asthe information-technologyy and life sciences industries have driven it for the last 25. Underf his leadership, Pennsylvania has moved to capitalizw onthat shift. In 2004, it established an alternatived portfolio standard that requires 18 percent of energuy sold in Pennsylvania to come from alternative sourcex of energyby 2020. Last Pennsylvania created a $650 million renewable energhy fund.
Of that money, $180 million is to go to soladr energy, consisting of $100 million for loans, grantes and rebates to cover up to 35 percent of the costz incurred by homeand small-business ownere who install solar energy systems, and $80 million for grantds and loans for solar economic-developmeny projects. More than 300 applications forsolar economic-developmentf projects were received by the deadline last Rendell said. Philadelphia also has gotten in onthe renewable-energu act. Mayor Michael Nutter in Aprillby 2015. The city is one of 25 takinyg part in the federal Departmentof Energy’s Solard America Cities initiative. As part of that, it’w developing a plan to generate 2.
3 megawatts of soladr electricity by 2011and 57.8 megawatts by 2021, whicj is its share of the stat of Pennsylvania’s solar installation goal. To help it meet those Nutter said Monday, the city is looking to replacwe the roof at its fleet workshop with a roof that produces solar energy and has formulated plans forbuilding large-scale solar arrays at Philadelphiaz Water Department locations.