United States Community Energy

The wide range of environmental consequences associated with our current energy system necessitates solutions to reduce emissions, water quality impacts, and habitat destruction while also providing reliable, safe, and cost-effective energy. U. S. climate change policy gridlock has prevented the type of top-down legislation needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage wide-scale development of fossil fuel alternatives. Despite a lack of climate change legislation, renewable energy and energy efficiency costs have decreased to a point that these technologies are now not only environmentally sustainable but also economically cost-effective (due in part to federal renewable energy tax incentives and state-based renewable energy policies).