Increased use of renewable energy always driven by government policy, says expert at annual MU conference

Last year, the United States installed 8 percent of the world’s solar-electric technology, the executive director of the Solar Electric Power Association said Wednesday. By contrast, Germany, which receives about the same amount of sunlight as Alaska, installed 55 percent.

“It’s all driven by policy,” said Julia Judd, who presented the keynote address at the Second Annual Advancing Renewables in the Midwest conference at MU. The daylong event drew 175 people from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Wisconsin.

Germany and Japan led in 2006 in the installation of solar-electric technology because they have policies that promote and subsidize solar technology, Judd said. In the U.S., California and New Jersey lead in solar-electric technology; California accounts for 70 percent of it, she said.

Although Missouri lacks policies encouraging the use of renewable energy, Columbia voters passed the Renewable Energy Standard in 2004. The ordinance requires 15 percent of the city’s electricity to be from renewable sources by 2023 and includes a timeline with incremental goals.

“We are five years ahead of schedule,” Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman said at the opening of the conference.

Contracts are in place to provide the city with 5 percent of its electricity through renewable sources such as a wind farm near King City and landfill gas projects in Columbia and Jefferson City, according to information from the city; 5 percent is the mandated goal for 2012.

The conference offered sessions on topics such as wind energy, landfill gas and ethanol.

“People tend to focus on their day-to-day work,” said Judd, whose association is based in Washington, D.C. “This is a chance to step back and find out what else is happening.”

Erin Noble, outreach and development director for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, ran one of nine information tables lining the hallway in the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental issues for the globe,” said Noble, explaining her organization’s presence at the conference. “It is important to promote policy that Missouri is lacking.”

The conference was sponsored by Columbia Water and Light, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and MU.

Pat Justis, who does urban outreach in St. Louis for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said the event is intended to be “truly Midwestern,” meaning that wind and sun are natural resources of the region.

“We hope to broaden the scope and move it to a nearby state, maybe Iowa,” Justis said. “But Missouri will still be instrumental in planning it.”