Nuclear could generate energy on a large scale but the permitting process, environmental studies and the lack of federal support currently stall research on-and the use of-nuclear energy, Hudgins said. Hudgins conducts research on renewable energy and other projects at the center, a collaboration between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Nebraska Public Power District. “There would need to be a big change in policy with nuclear energy before it would be a feasible alternative,” said Jerry Hudgins, interim director of the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research in Lincoln. “I’m a green person and I love the savings,” she said. Solar panels on her house have lowered her monthly electric bill from $125 to $14. For example, are solar collectors unsightly?Īsk Janice Mason of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The exemption now is capped for new wind farms at 10 years. For example, will communities support new wind farms or will protestors show up at a proposed site? Until 2017, wind farms in Kansas were exempt from property taxes. Public opinion also is influential, and subject to change. Whether the transition is smooth or bumpy depends on a number of factors, including policies, legislation and regulations that determine whether a county, city or homeowners’ association is receptive or resistant to change. “Since we began hosting the conference, renewable energy has also grown tremendously, and understanding this transition-from fossil fuels to renewable energy-has been an increasing focus of our conference each year and will be what much of the discussion this year is about,” she said. Mine Yücel, senior research advisor for the Dallas Fed, said they wanted to bring together leading experts in energy to help the Banks and the broader public understand the evolution of the industry. “At the same time, interest in moving the electricity grid toward greater reliance on wind and solar energy and away from coal was well underway.” “The Kansas City and Dallas Feds teamed up to host this conference following the drop in oil prices of 2014-15 that led to a massive restructuring of the oil and gas industry that has really continued to this day,” he said. Understanding that transition was one of the reasons for the “ Energy and the Economy” conference, a six-year partnership between the Federal Reserve Banks of Kansas City and Dallas, according to Chad Wilkerson, vice president, economist and Oklahoma City Branch executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. “The energy industry is confronting a quickly evolving transition to renewable resources from carbon-based fuels,” said Keith Phillips, assistant vice president and senior economist in the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The company sells and installs solar panels.įor Woods and others, including utilities, investors, businesses and government, now is a time of transition. The coal mine he left filed for bankruptcy two years later and now he is part owner of The Solar Guys in Cheyenne, Wyoming. At the time, he said the topic “was unheard of to me.”Īfter giving the speech, “I couldn’t stop reading about solar,” Woods said. In 2009, when Woods saw mines closing and miners losing jobs, he left Kentucky for Indiana where he enrolled in college to “find out what I wanted to do.” For speech class assignment, Woods, 50, chose “solar” from a list of topics. Changes in the coal mining industry have led Ray Woods from the depths of shoveling coal to the heights of installing solar panels.
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