DOE report: Clean energy costs down, savings and deployment rates up
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the release of a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday that demonstrates declining costs and accelerating deployment of clean energy technologies in the U.S.
The report covers five technologies – wind turbines, utility-scale solar technologies, distributed photovoltaic (PV) technologies, electric vehicles (EVs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Updated with 2016 data, the new edition of the report, titled “Revolution…Now,” describes the economic and environmental benefits reaped in the U.S. as the technologies are increasingly deployed.
“This report is further proof that our commitment to clean energy and American innovation can lead to steep cost reductions and sharp increases in the deployment of advanced technologies,” Moniz said. “We need to continue pushing the innovation agenda that leads to these kinds of dramatic cost reductions for all low-carbon technologies and increases America’s competitiveness and independence in the global clean energy economy.”
The report tracks prices for the five technologies, showing dramatic cost reductions ranging from 40 percent up to 94 percent since 2008. Additional data approximates the savings resulting from the deployment of the technologies, showing energy savings of approximately $700 million from solar power alone, owing to reduced water consumption and decreased air pollution.
