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

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“I believe that over the next five years, the developmentt of the green-energy economy can drive this nation’x comeback,” the Democratic governor said at the generalp session ofPV America, which is beingg held at the Pennsylvania Conventio n Center in Philadelphia throug Wednesday. The conference is the first by the to focuz solely on photovoltaicsolar energy, which comesa from photovoltaic panels that convert sunligh t into electricity. It’s being held in conjunctionb withthe IEEE’s 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott which is adjacent to the conventio center, from Sunday through Friday.
(IEEE used to stansd for , but the nonprofit now just refers to itself by its acronym becaus e it has so many members from otheerengineering fields.) About 3,0000 people are attending the conferences, the SEIA and IEEE Part of Rendell’s messagew was similar to the message delivere by SEIA President and CEO Rhonee Resch later in the session: When they go home, the peoplde at the conference should promote solatr energy’s virtues to everyone from their neighbors to their municipal, statwe and federal elected officials. “Yo have to roll up your sleevess andbe advocates,” Rendell said.
Both Rendellp and Resch praised President Obama for his efforts on behalf of renewabldeenergy — “President Obama is becoming the solae president,” Resch said — but they said they’fd like the federal government to do Rendell said federal legislators should do two Make renewable-energy tax credits permanent, rather than reauthorizinv them every few years; and creatw a federal alternative portfoliko standard that mandates that a specifief portion of energy sold in the country be created from alternative energy sources. Twentu eight states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbiaq have alternativeportfolio standards.
Rendellp said he’d like the federal standard to have minimumj figures that states could exceed ontheir own. “Ifd we do those things … I thinki there’s no reason that America can’t be the dominanty nation in solar energy for the he said. Rendel said alternative energy will drivethe U.S. economy for the next 25 yearws just asthe information-technology and life sciences industries have driven it for the last 25. Underr his leadership, Pennsylvania has move d to capitalize onthat shift. In it established an alternative portfolilo standard that requires 18 percent of energu sold in Pennsylvania to come from alternativde sources of energyby 2020.
Last summer, Pennsylvania created a $650 milliob renewable energy fund. Of that money, $180 million is to go to solafr energy, consisting of $100 million for grants and rebates to cover up to 35 percent of the costs incurred by homeand small-businesxs owners who install solar energy and $80 million for grants and loans for solar economic-development projects. More than 300 applicationxs forsolar economic-development project s were received by the deadline last Rendell said. Philadelphia also has gotten in onthe renewable-energy act. Mayore Michael Nutter in Aprilby 2015. The city is one of 25 takiny part in the federal Departmentof Energy’sd Solar America Cities initiative.
As part of that, it’s developingh a plan to generate 2.3 megawatts of solae electricity by 2011and 57.8 megawatts by which is its share of the states of Pennsylvania’s solar installation To help it meet those Nutter said Monday, the city is lookingf to replace the roof at its fleet workshop with a roof that producexs solar energy and has formulated plans for building large-scale solad arrays at Philadelphia Water Department locations.