Yesterday, the Corzine administration released its Energy Master Plan. The Governor's press statement is available here and the full plan is available here. At the worldwide headquarters of CIANJ, we're still digesting the revised plan, but it is largely unchanged from the draft released during the summer. Our commentary from then is posted to our website.
Here are the highlights:
- Reduce energy use 20% by the year 2020
- Have renewable resources, such as wind and solar, generate 30% of our electricity
- Study the need for a new nuclear reactor
The plan rightly acknowledges the fact that energy prices have been rising far too quickly, and that to lower them, we must accept the basic premise of supply and demand. If done properly, conservation can be a very cost-effective way to reduce demand (and the price). However, we would also stress the need to boost supply. While having aggressive goals for solar and wind power may be worthwhile, they are based on technologies that have yet to prove they can carry a baseload. On the other hand, nuclear energy can generate large quantities of energy without producing any greenhouse gas emissions. It must be an increased part of the mix if we hope to reach carbon reduction goals, just as it is used in countries such as France.
