The right price, he said, is low enough to facilitate global economic growth but high enough to incentivize development of not just marginal oil and gas fields but even renewable energy sources.
Eligible improvements (PDF) include not only energy-saving equipment such as insulation, lighting, and HVAC systems but onsite renewable energy (rooftop PV, wind turbines, and fuel cells) and water-saving upgrades such as low-flow plumbing fixtures and grey water systems.
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But although the renewable-energy sector is growing by 30% a year, Mr Ritter's dream of making it the foundation of economic growth seems chimerical.
And we have to have, probably, nuclear energy also, which is not renewable but can go on for a long time for us to meet all of our energy needs.
But some proponents of renewable energy believe the time is right, regardless of the economy or the price of gas.
Biomass power plants are the government's favourite renewable, but environmentalists now criticise them for their effect on biodiversity.
But a robust, renewable energy market will remain hampered if the energy industry continues to chase the next subsidy.
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Otherwise we are simply solving one problem, less dependence on fossil fuels, while creating another, a technology that produces energy from renewable sources but is not disposable at the end of its lifecycle.
Both sides are in favor of renewable security, but they haven't decided how to get it.
He said there was "nothing wrong" with renewable energy "but it's not going to be enough".
Note that it's not all about renewable energy, but about technologies, systems and behaviour change that reduces climate-changing emissions.
But there are ways for renewable energy and natural gas to work together.
The taxes will be used to subsidize the 10% renewable contributors (but really just 3% after you leave out hydro).
Hydroelectricity is the largest renewable sector, but both wind and solar power have been growing at record rates in Italy in the last two years.
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The state has already surpassed the 20% mark (granted, much of this is still utility scale renewable investment, but increasingly more is happening at the consumer level).
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But the market expansion of renewable technologies has made possible cost reductions in some sectors, such as wind and solar photovoltaics (PV), and such trends are set to continue.
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The U.S. needs to develop all options available, but what it does with renewable energy and other alternatives has to be done on a sound economic basis--not ideology--to get a sure payoff.
He said it was possible to reach a 25% renewable energy target but would need anaerobic digestion to get beyond this, something that could result in an 10% increase in bills by 2020.
Corn is indeed a renewable resource, but it has a far lower yield relative to the energy used to produce it than either biodiesel (such as soybean oil) or ethanol from other plants.
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Morris says he favors new renewable sources, but the "Achilles' heel" for solar and wind is the fact that the sun shines brighter and the wind blows harder in the West and Great Plains.
But unlike other forms of renewable energy, such as solar or wind power, it has the further advantage that it is not intermittent, but can provide steady, predictable baseload electricity, all day and all night.
The Recovery Act will double the supply of renewable energy, but the only way to truly spark an energy transformation is through a gradual, market-based cap on carbon pollution so that energy, clean energy is the profitable kind of energy.
But Junfeng Li of the China Renewable Energy Industries Association has a more optimistic outlook.
Shale gas is also likely to divert investment in Britain from pricier but carbon-free nuclear and renewable-energy sources.
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The council also wants vulnerable landscapes to be protected from renewable energy projects, but said small-scale community projects should be encouraged.
Solar power, which consumes half the total subsidy but provides just a fifth of renewable electricity, is racing ahead of target.
Preserving vast tracts of land is a far different activity from backing a promising renewable energy technology, but protecting land is nonetheless important.
These are ambitious goals, but our grid can support more renewable power, climate science requires it, and companies are shifting resources toward it.
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Voters, investors and businesses agree on renewable energy standards, but if they keep quiet on their support, they could let the 20 percent overrule the 80.
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He agreed with the president that America needed renewable and nuclear energy but promised to end the federal regulatory war against coal and build the Keystone XL pipeline.
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