For Immediate Release

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: John Farrell
Tel. 612-379-3815 ext 210

Most States Can Be Energy Independent, New Report Shows

Minneapolis, MN— (November 10, 2008) A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) suggests that at least half of the fifty states could achieve energy self-sufficiency with the help of locally-focused federal energy policy. The findings should inform the energy policy of President-elect Barack Obama.

“Renewable energy is unique because some form of it is available everywhere,” says ILSR Research Associate John Farrell, one of the report’s authors. “But federal policy unaccountably supports centralized renewable power and provides incentives for heavy investments in a nationwide transmission infrastructure to get that energy to the final customer. That’s regrettable because homegrown and locally owned renewable energy is almost always cheaper, especially when you factor in social, environmental and economic benefits.”

Energy Self-Reliant States provides a state-by-state estimate of the amount of electricity and transportation fuels that could be generated by wind energy, solar energy, and biomass.

“We believe our estimates are conservative”, says David Morris, Vice President of ILSR. “Yet even with these conservative assumptions, the dramatic conclusions should lead to a major revision in key federal and state energy policies.”

Download the full report, Energy Self-Reliant States: Homegrown Renewable Power.

More reports are available online at www.newrules.org.

For more information or to arrange an interview with John Farrell or David Morris, please contact John Farrell at .

About ILSR and the New Rules Project: Since 1974, ILSR has worked with citizen groups, governments and private businesses in developing practices that extract the maximum value from local resources.  A program of ILSR, the New Rules Project was designed to build community by supporting humanly scaled politics and economics. More at http://www.ilsr.org and http://www.newrules.org/