January 2007 ASES Report: Tackling Climate Change in U.S.
      - GEO/Sierra Club News Release

How Can Renewable Energy Make Ohio Greener?

There are many different kinds of energy that can be considered "renewable."  But what is "renewable"?  The word renewable refers to a source of power that cannot be used up - it is replaced at the same rate as it is used.  For example, wind power technologies use but do not deplete the wind, so they are renewable.  Fossil fuels like coal take many centuries to form, and are being used much more quickly than they can be replaced.  Fossil fuels are not a renewable form of energy.  Disclosure of the fuel mix of Ohio utilities is an important step in consumer understanding of how their electricity is generated. 

Renewable energy is clean energy.  While fossil fuels emit many pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide, as well as heavy metals and other dangerous byproducts, renewable sources of power generally have few if any emissions.  This is important, because as humans use more and more power in daily life in all cultures, the impacts of these pollutants, including acid rain, smog, and global climate change, continue to grow.

There is another characteristic that is often assumed when people talk about renewable energy: environmental impact.  Most renewable forms of power have minimal environmental impacts, but some forms of power, like large-scale hydro power, can be renewable but still be environmentally harmful.  Both a power source's potential for being renewed AND its environmental impact must be considered along with other criteria like cost and local resources.

The Ohio Ozone Non-Attainment Map was issued April 15, 2004 showing new 8-hour standard on a county-by-county basis.

See Economic Implications for Ohio of Non-Attainment  And Related Clean Air Issues
April 7, 2004 Workshop for the Ohio Clean Energy Business Association (OCEBA)

Indiana adopted an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Set-Aside that offers potential financial incentives to large-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that significantly reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.  New Indiana NOx rules are effective in May 2004.

At the February 15, 2003 GEO 3rd Annual Meeting, the noted Ohio State University Paleoclimatologist Dr. Lonnie Thompson spoke on "Rapid Climate Change in the Earth Systems and Sustainability."  Dr. Thompson is one of America's Best Scientists named by Time magazine and CNN.  On April 21, 2004, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore gave a lecture at the Ohio State University attended by 700 people on "Global Change and the Environment."  Presenting much of Dr. Lonnie Thompson's work and information updated for 2004 the Al Gore lecture appears as streaming video on the web site of the John Glenn Institute at OSU.  See April 22, 2004 Columbus Dispatch article (.pdf) on Al Gore lecture