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CARE strongly endorses continued research and development of most renewable energy sources. One of the most important priorities of the United States government should be to encourage the diversification of our energy base so that the nation is more insulated from shortages, price shocks or even market manipulation by foreign nations such as what happened in the Arab Oil Embargo in the early 1970s. Clean, renewable energy can and should become a larger portion of the American energy portfolio. It’s one piece of the multi-faceted solution that will enable us to effectively deal with the very serious energy challenges ahead.
CARE also believes that it’s very important to give the American public accurate information about the potential and the limitations of all energy sources, including renewables. Today the public is bombarded by propaganda that would lead the uninformed observer to believe that renewable energy can be a substitute to fossil fuels in the near future. That’s simply not the case. The Energy Information Administration cautions us that the U.S. will actually become even more reliant on fossil fuels over the next 30 years and perhaps beyond. That’s because even with the technological advances that have been made in solar and wind power, biomass and other energy sources, serious challenges remain. Renewable energy (minus hydro-electric power) currently makes up just over three percent of electricity generation. The contribution of renewables to our most critical energy need—transportation—is relatively insignificant.
Encouraging progress is being made on several renewable energy fronts. However, it will take many years and even decades for renewables to displace meaningful amounts of fossil fuels from our overall energy portfolio.
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