Survey Says: Americans Support Modern Electricity

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) readies its draft guideline for greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector under the Clean Air Act, a new survey shows that Americans overwhelmingly support modernizing the country’s electricity system.

Two-thirds of those surveyed by Zogby Analytics in a poll commissioned by Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), a national business association, said they thought it was “a good idea” to modernize the electric power system.

Seventy-four percent of Americans believe that modernizing U.S. electric power systems to use electricity more efficiently and reduce the need for old power plants is a good idea, according to the survey.

And 58% of Americans believe that modernizing the electric power system by scaling back the use of old power plants and adding more low-emission natural gas power generation and zero-emission wind, solar and hydropower is a good idea even if it costs more mon

There is immediate opportunity to modernize America’s electric system. EPA is slated to release its draft guideline for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at existing power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act as soon as today.

The polling results were unveiled May 29 at a press briefing with advanced energy industry business leaders about the benefits of modernizing the electric power system through advanced energy services and technologies under the upcoming regulation. Full results of the three-question survey of 1,000 respondents are available here.

“We believe that EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions represents an opportunity to modernize the electric power system for the 21st century, and this new survey shows that Americans support the idea of modernizing the electric power sector by a wide margin,” says Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president of policy and government affairs at AEE. “Advanced energy companies offer dozens of technologies and services that can be used by states to meet the EPA carbon standards and upgrade electric power service for households and businesses at the same time. As part of the $170 billion per year advanced energy industry in the U.S., our member companies stand ready to deliver on the promise of a modern electric power system that is both cleaner and higher performing.”

A recent report from AEE titled Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, described 40 specific technologies and services available for states to consider in developing compliance plans for EPA’s standards and detailed their emission reduction and broad electric power system benefits. The report is available for download here.

CEOs and other top executives from AEE member companies testified to the benefits of their companies’ technologies and services in modernizing the electric power system as well as reducing carbon emissions from power generation.

“For 30 years and in about half of U.S. states, we have proven that making homes and businesses more energy efficient saves money and lowers demand on existing power plants,” says Steve Cowell, chairman and CEO of Conservation Services Group. “It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency is a winning solution for the economy and the environment, and doing more of it multiplies those benefits.”

“There are revolutionary new technologies that can help utilities cut their carbon emissions, boost their bottom lines and empower people worldwide to save energy and money,” says Alex Laskey, president and founder of Opower. “Embracing behavioral energy efficiency alone could abate 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution and save families $2.2 billion every year, and this is just one solution among many. “

“The U.S. electricity sector is responsible for about 40% of this country’s carbon emissions, which presents a huge opportunity for renewable energy to provide significant reductions,” says Susan Reilly, CEO of RES Americas and chair of the board of directors of the American Wind Energy Association. “Land-based wind energy is an efficient, scalable and cost-effective source of carbon-free electricity. Wind is no longer an alternative – it’s an imperative for the electric power system of the 21st century.”

Here’s a look back at Americans’ views on solar power from 2010:
Survey Says Solar Is Worth $5 To Americans