More wind farms would be built in Ohio if lawmakers adopt some of the policy reforms proposed by the The Nature Conservancy in Ohio and the Environmental Defense Fund instead of ending state renewable energy standards. (Lisa DeJong,The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND — “Backing off the more draconian utility mandates that the state put into place eight years ago and instead adopting a combination of smaller efficiency and renewable energy standards would save customers money, create jobs and boost Ohio’s economy, new economic modeling claims.
The Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund make this argument in a sophisticated study they commissioned and released today.
Grounds for Optimism:Options for Empowering Ohio’s Energy Market: argues that Ohio can have efficiency and renewable standards without sending customer bills through the roof.
The study’s findings, in a nutshell, predict that industries competing to build wind and solar, along with those manufacturing and selling efficiency technologies and services would:
- Create between 82,300 and 136,000 new jobs in Ohio, most of those by the wind industry;
- Grow Ohio’s gross domestic product by $6.7 billion to $10.7 billion by 2030;
- Save Ohio electricity customers between $28.8 million and $50.9 million by 2030;
- Deliver about $800 million in near-term health-care savings annually and up to $3 billion per year by 2030.
Each of the predicted span of outcomes is based on one of three future scenarios. The options either stress the adoption of efficiency technologies, renewable technologies or a combination of both.
None of the options would require as much investment as the rules created in 2008 had demanded. In other words, this is an offer to compromise.”
— John Funk, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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