At PV America, Rendell says alternative energy will boost economy - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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“I believe that over the next five the development ofthe green-energy economy can drive this nation’x comeback,” the Democratic governor said at the general session of PV which is being held at the Pennsylvania Conventiomn Center in Philadelphia throughj Wednesday. The conference is the first by the to focux solely on photovoltaic solar which comes from photovoltaic panels that convertg sunlightinto electricity. It’s being held in conjunction withthe IEEE’ds 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, which is adjacent to the convention from Sunday through Friday.
(IEEE used to stand for , but the nonprofit now just refers to itself by its acronym because it has so many member s from other engineering About 3,000 people are attending the conferences, the SEIA and IEEE Part of Rendell’s message was similar to the messager delivered by SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch later in the When they go home, the people at the conference shoulrd promote solar energy’s virtues to everyone from their neighbors to their state and federal elected officials.
“You have to roll up your sleevew andbe advocates,” Rendell Both Rendell and Resch praised President Obama for his effortsa on behalf of renewable energyy — “President Obama is becoming the solarr president,” Resch said — but they said they’ like the federal government to do more. Rendelk said federal legislators should dotwo things: Make renewable-energy tax credits permanent, rather than reauthorizing them every few years; and create a federal alternative portfolio standarfd that mandates that a specified portion of energy sold in the country be created from alternativse energy sources.
Twenty eight states, includinv Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbis have alternativeportfolio standards. Rendell said he’e like the federal standard to have minimum figures that state s could exceed ontheir own. “I we do those things … I thinl there’s no reason that America can’t be the dominantr nation in solar energyu forthe world,” he Rendel said alternative energy will drive the U.S. economy for the next 25 years just asthe information-technologuy and life sciences industries have driven it for the last 25. Underr his leadership, Pennsylvania has movede to capitalize onthat shift.
In it established an alternative portfolio standard that requirea 18 percent of energy sold in Pennsylvania to come from alternativer sources of energyby 2020. Last summer, Pennsylvaniaq created a $650 million renewable energy fund. Of that money, $180 million is to go to soladr energy, consisting of $100 million for loans, grant s and rebates to cover up to 35 percent of the costs incurred by homeand small-business owner s who install solar energyg systems, and $80 million for grants and loan for solar economic-development projects. More than 300 applicationzs forsolar economic-development projects were received by the deadlinwe last week, Rendell said.
Philadelphia also has gotten in onthe renewable-energyu act. Mayor Michael Nuttefr in Aprilby 2015. The city is one of 25 takinv part in the federal Departmenftof Energy’s Solar Americza Cities initiative. As part of that, it’s developinbg a plan to generate 2.3 megawatts of sola electricity by 2011and 57.8 megawatts by which is its share of the states of Pennsylvania’s solar installation goal. To help it meet thoss goals, Nutter said Monday, the city is looking to replace the roof at its fleet workshop with a roof that producess solar energy and has formulater plans forbuilding large-scale solar arrays at Philadelphiq Water Department locations.