Research Team Gets Grant To Study Regional Economic Opportunities Of Renewable Energy

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (October 10, 2007) – A team of Penn State researchers has received a grant in the amount of $128,593 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to study the growing demand for solar and wind energy and the economic opportunities these renewable energy forms create for the 13-state Appalachian region.

In 2004, only 6 percent of total U.S. energy consumption came from renewable resources like hydro, wind, and solar energy. But a bill currently in Congress would mandate that at least 15 percent of U.S. energy comes from renewable sources by the year 2020. Legislative actions like this one, coupled with climate concerns, natural resource depletion, rising energy costs, and tax incentives are driving a dramatic increase in sustainable energy demand.

To meet this demand, the renewable energy sector is expanding exponentially, bringing with it thousands of new jobs, new business enterprises, and new venture capital opportunities. ARC has tapped Penn State to identify ways in which the Appalachian region can capitalize on these and other economic opportunities presented by alternative energy.

"The ballooning interest in renewable energy at this point is like a gold rush," said Gerald Susman, co-principal investigator on the research project and director of the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. "Manufacturing facilities need to be built, new technologies developed, new supply chains formed, and workers trained and investors secured—the opportunities are almost endless from an economic standpoint."

The one-year research project, which got underway on Oct. 1, will take place in two phases. In Phase I, the research team will identify product markets in the solar and wind industries, and describe their characteristics. Phase II consists of identifying products and components produced by firms in Appalachia serving the solar and wind industries. At the end of the study, the researchers will present a catalogue of policies and public incentives designed to attract, develop, and retain businesses in these markets.

In addition to Susman, the research team will be led by co-principal investigator Amy Glasmeier, director of Penn State's Center for Policy Research in Energy, Environment, and Community Well Being. Serving as investigators for the research project are David Riley, director of the University's Center for Sustainability, and Susan Stewart, research associate in the Energy Science and Power Systems Division of Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory's Advanced Technology Office.

The Appalachian Regional Commission is a federal-state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life. Appalachia, as defined in the legislation from which the ARC derives its authority, is a 200,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.