REPORT SAYS RENEWABLE ENERGY WOULD LIFT ECONOMY

Moving to "a renewable energy economy" would create more than $6 billion in new economic activity, including a $460 million increase in net farm income, and create more then 44,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania, according to a study released yesterday.

The two-year study, conducted by the University of Tennessee, was sponsored by the 25x'25 Alliance, an organization formed to advance the goal of having renewables provide 25 percent of the nation's energy by 2025. The organization has chapters in 15 states, including Pennsylvania.

While the national study included wind, solar, geothermal energy, and hydro power, the emphasis in yesterday's presentation was on agricultural products that can become energy sources, such as corn, trees and switchgrass.

An increase in the use of such energy sources could create a double benefit for farmers, for whom rising costs have created "a horrific situation," said Gary Swan, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

"Agriculture has a unique opportunity," he said, "to both solve a problem on the farm ... and to create a whole new revenue stream."

The estimates for Pennyslvania's economic growth potential are conservative, said steering committee member Allen Rider, because the state has "many acres of timberland" that were not included in the University of Tennessee analysis.

The study projects that by 2025, the acreage devoted to dedicated energy crops, which is now so small as to be negligible, will increase to 1.5 million acres.