Focal Point: 'Power Shift'

Skyrocketing fuel prices and concerns over climate change have government and business leaders looking for alternative sources of energy.

While North Carolina is at the center of the debate over more offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, entrepreneurs and researchers are developing alternative transportation fuels in North Carolina, including ethanol and biodiesel. They are also breaking new ground in developing alternative, renewable energy sources to generate electricity, including solar, wind and methane from animal waste and landfills.

The General Assembly passed legislation in 2007 requiring the state’s major utilities to produce 12.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2021. Duke Power and Progress Energy have responded by making major investments in alternative energy and have contracted with small entrepreneurial companies to generate electricity from alternative, renewable sources. However, there are many roadblocks on the path to sustainable and renewable energy.

Developing alternative energy is expensive. Producers can’t compete in the marketplace with the cheap, abundant energy that nuclear and coal plants produce.

Ethanol production puts pressure on food prices, uses massive amounts of water and can cause its own pollution issues. Solar and wind power are intermittent. And the “not in my back yard” mentality has blocked two commercial wind projects in the state.

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