10/30 by Jim Witkin http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/report-argues-for-a-de-centralized-system-of-renewable-power-generation/Most states could meet their demand for electricity with renewable energy sources inside their own borders, according to a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit group in Washington that advocates for local sustainability solutions.
The report, called Energy Self-Reliant States, examined the commercial potential for wind, rooftop solar, geothermal and small-scale hydro projects.
Thirty-one states, mostly west of the Mississippi, could meet all their electric demand, and all states could generate at least 25 percent of their demand using these in-state resources, the authors of the report suggest. . .
The report advocated strongly for state and local control over these renewable energy assets and a decentralized approach to electricity generation: building small-scale, distributed energy facilities and upgrading the transmission and distribution systems within each state. . .
