November 17, 2008
Dear Fellow Nebraskans:
This summer I announced that the Nebraska Energy Office would be playing a larger role in helping advance new energy strategies for our state. I want to highlight the efforts underway in the office that will help our state take the next step toward encouraging greater investment in Nebraska’s renewable energy sector.
Recently the Nebraska Energy Office and members of the Nebraska Wind Working Group held the state’s first wind energy conference. The two-day event was an opportunity to update wind development efforts in Nebraska and issues critical to its continued growth such as land use and financing options. It featured information on smaller wind turbines that can be used to power individual homes and buildings.
While there is potential for development of wind power in Nebraska, it’s still in the early stages of development. The wind conference was an opportunity to draw attention to the opportunities a stronger wind power sector could offer, including additional manufacturing jobs to produce the blades, towers and turbines, and to further investments in our rural areas.
I appreciate the leadership of the Nebraska Wind Working Group and the efforts of the Nebraska Energy Office in bringing this event together. The Energy Office is also surveying opportunities across a broad spectrum of renewable energy and energy conservation issues by updating the state energy plan.
The first plan was developed 25 years ago and the ways energy is used have changed considerably since then. The ethanol industry is a perfect example. In 1985, one of the nation’s first ethanol plants began production in Nebraska with an annual capacity of 10 million gallons. Today, Nebraska has 24 plants capable of producing a total 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year.
The increasing interest and demand for cleaner burning fuels and energy produced from renewable resources is an indication of the future promise of alternative energy. While many ideas are in the development phase, others are quickly becoming mainstream demands of business and industry as well as homeowners. Energy efficiency and emerging renewable energy resources hold outstanding potential for our state.
As the Energy Office prepares to update our state energy plan, Nebraskans are invited to share their comments and suggestions by focusing on ideas to help achieve energy independence; attract additional jobs and businesses that will increase Nebraska’s renewable energy sector; or achieve greater energy efficiency and conservation in government buildings and property. The Nebraska Energy Office is taking suggestions online through Dec. 1.
So far, hundreds of suggestions on how the state should produce and use energy have been shared through several comment sessions and logged on the energy office Web site. To share your comments, visit http://www.neo.ne.gov/energyplan, or send an e-mail to energy@nebraska.gov.
Our goal is to ensure Nebraskans have reliable and affordable sources of energy that support a cleaner environment and provide a more secure future. Developing a new energy plan for Nebraska and events like the recent wind conference are providing the ideas that will help us move forward.
