Renewable Energy Works for Rural America

 

Renewable energy is rural energy.  As President Obama said in his inaugural address, "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

Renewable energy is also big business. A report from the National Farmers Union pointed out that cash receipts for all of agriculture in 2006 were $236 billion.  Electricity sales were $330 billion that year.  Put the two together:  rural energy + big business = a huge business opportunity for rural America.

Farmers, ranchers, foresters, and rural communities can benefit in a number of ways.  They can earn royalties for the use of their land, or invest in renewable power projects themselves.  They can sell commodities -- "energy crops" -- to power plants.  And they can reap the tax benefits of these capital-intensive technologies to help pay for schools, roads, and health services in their communities.

 

VIDEO:  Colorado Farmers Harvest Wind Power Northeastern Colorado is rapidly developing into one of the largest wind energy producing regions of the country.  Learn more at Clean Energy Pioneers.

 

Reports

 

NEW  New Markets and Opportunities for Agriculture in Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and North Carolina: An Economic Analysis of a Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard, The University of Tennessee, October 2009  

      This study, released by the Bipartisan Policy Center, finds that an RES of 25% by 2025 would increase gross receipts for agricultural operations ranging from $9,419 per farm in Florida, $11,283 per farm in Colorado, $16,028 per farm in North Carolina, and $43,229 per farm in Kansas.

 

NEW  Renewable Energy and Economic Potential in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, Center for Rural Affairs, August 2009.

Using analysis from the National Renewable Energy Lab, this report finds Upper Midwest states could get create 150,000 jobs and generate almost $9 billion in economic activity if America got 20 percent of its power from wind turbines.

 

High Country News, Growing Away from Big Coal: Rural electric co-ops make a slow push back toward community energy, June 15, 2009

 

National Farmers Union, Energizing Rural America: How Renewable Electricity Standards Generate Rural Economic Prosperity, July 2007.

 

Harvesting Clean Energy and the Intermountain Harvesting Energy Network, Bright Futures:  Reenergizing Public Power for Rural Prosperity,  May 2007.

University of Tennessee,25% Renewable Energy for the United States By 2025: Agricultural and Economic Impacts, 2006.

 

Environmental Law & Policy Center, Farm Energy: Clean Energy and Rural Economic Development, web site.

 

The Energy Foundation,  The New Harvest:  Biofuels and Windpower for Rural Revitalization, 2005.  See also profiles of six rural energy entrepreneurs, in The New Harvesters.