ACHIEVING A SECURE ENERGY FUTURE - ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC-ISSUES

Energy, economics, and the environment are interdependent. Land, water , atmospheric, and biological resources are being degraded by current high energy consumption. U.S. energy consumption is the highest in the world and the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the United State s has only about 10 years of known and potentially discoverable oil re serves. The U.S. should reduce its energy consumption by one half to h elp restore the quality of the environment while improving the America n standard of living by strengthening the economy and increasing the n umber of jobs. Because of the interdependence of energy, economics, an d the environment, energy efficiency and transition to renewable energ y sources are critical. An estimated 40% of current energy consumption could be produced employing solar energy technologies, but would requ ire about 20% of total U.S. land area. Therefore, the development of s olar energy technologies to substitute for fossil energy is projected to compete for land required for agriculture and forestry as well as h ave other environmental impacts.