BORDENTOWN – From tidal power to advanced metering, from wind turbines to fuel cells, a diverse range of alternative energy options received a public airing today during the third of four scheduled Energy Master Plan hearings at the Rutgers Eco-Complex here.
The committee whose report preceded this hearing urged the state to decide which avenues offer the best combination of pluses: environmentally friendly, cost-effective, marketable and able to win regulatory approval.
Smaller-scale projects – rather than larger undertakings that require extensive permitting – offer a more easily attainable commercial payoff, the committee said. That is one reason the possibility of a new nuclear power plant landed far down on the committee’s list of possibilities.
Gov. Christie’s draft Energy Master Plan issued earlier this year includes the possibility of a new nuclear plant.
The variety of options – nuclear, fuel cells, large-scale co-generation, compressed air, fly wheels and more – each carries its own unique set of advantages and disadvantages.
For example, the group concluded that tidal power has a high viability, but a limited number of suitable sites in the state; fuel cells have been in use for years, but their reliability and maintenance have impeded their progress.
Each option, the subcommittee reported, must be weighed in terms of how much money has to be put into it and how much energy you will get as a result of that investment.
John Cusack, who chaired the subcommittee that examined all of these, pointed out today that over the last four years, about $2.4 trillion has been spent on alternatives, including renewable and smart grid, and a key goal of the state should be figuring out how to draw some of that money – in its various incarnations of research, development, commercialization – to New Jersey.
Business incubators – there already are several in New Jersey – and tax incentives can spur alternatives, he said.
And not all options need a great deal of seed money, Cusack said. Energy audits are an inexpensive way to make buildings more efficient, he told the audience.
He stressed the desirability of “relevant clean” technologies that exist already as opposed to long-term, expensive research and development and new inventions as being critical to achieving progress in the short term.
