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

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“I believe that over the next five the development ofthe green-energy economy can drivs this nation’s comeback,” the Democratic governor said at the general sessionj of PV America, which is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia throug h Wednesday. The conference is the first by the to focus solely on photovoltaicsolar energy, which comes from photovoltaix panels that convert sunlight into electricity. It’e being held in conjunction withthe IEEE’s 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, whicj is adjacent to the convention from Sunday through Friday.
(IEEE used to stand for , but the nonprofigt now just refers to itself by its acronyj because it has so many members from othertengineering fields.) About 3,000 people are attending the the SEIA and IEEE said. Part of Rendell’zs message was similar to the messagee delivered by SEIA President and CEO Rhone Reschj later inthe session: When they go the people at the conference should promote solart energy’s virtues to everyone from their neighbors to theifr municipal, state and federal elected officials. “Yoj have to roll up your sleeves and be Rendell said.
Both Rendell and Resch praised President Obamqa for his efforts on behalft of renewableenergy — “Presideng Obama is becoming the solar president,” Resch said but they said they’c like the federal government to do more. Rendell said federa legislators should dotwo things: Make renewable-energh tax credits permanent, rather than reauthorizing them evert few years; and create a federal alternative portfolio standard that mandates that a specifiedx portion of energy sold in the country be createsd from alternative energy sources. Twent y eight states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbiq have alternativeportfolio standards.
Rendell said he’s like the federal standardc to have minimum figures that states could exceex ontheir own. “If we do those things I think there’s no reason that America can’tr be the dominant natioj in solar energy forthe world,” he said. Rendepl said alternative energy will drivethe U.S. economyt for the next 25 years just asthe information-technology and life sciencez industries have driven it for the last 25. Undetr his leadership, Pennsylvania has moved to capitalize on that In 2004, it established an alternative portfolip standard that requires 18 percent of energy sold in Pennsylvaniaa to come from alternative sources of energy by 2020.
Last Pennsylvania created a $650 million renewable energt fund. Of that money, $180 million is to go to solarf energy, consisting of $100 million for grants and rebates to cover up to 35 percenft of the costs incurred by homeand small-businesas owners who install solar energy systems, and $80 million for grants and loans for solar economic-development projects. More than 300 applicationz forsolar economic-development projects were received by the deadlinwe last week, Rendell said. Philadelphia also has gotten in onthe renewable-energhy act. Mayor Michael Nutter in Apriloby 2015. The city is one of 25 takinv part in the federal Departmentof Energy’s Solar America Citiess initiative.
As part of that, it’s developing a plan to generate 2.3 megawatta of solar electricity by 2011and 57.8 megawatts by which is its share of the state of Pennsylvania’s sola r installation goal. To help it meet thoser goals, Nutter said Monday, the city is looking to replace the roof at its fleet workshopo with a roof that produces solar energy and has formulated planes forbuilding large-scale solar arrays at Philadelphia Water Department locations.