Ocean State to Adopt More Green Energy Sources

By: Timothy Hanrahan
Posted In: News

NEWPORT R.I. – Wind farms, solar panels, home heating oil made from recycled grease. Sounds like a typical San Francisco Bay Area California crunchy dream, right? But it isn’t. Rhode Island is working towards providing residents with more renewable energy.

According to Rhode Island’s Office of Energy Resources State Energy Plan, state residents pay the fourth highest energy prices in the nation. Rhode Island also relies heavily on importing energy from out of state, which sends millions of dollars annually out of the local economy. But much of the demands for future energy have a local solution.

Deepwater Wind, a company that specializes in building offshore wind turbines, plans on building wind farms off the coast of Rhode Island and Block Island. These wind farms will eventually be able to produce 1.3 million megawatt hours, or 15 percent of overall energy for the state.

Even though the focus for wind energy has been on offshore developments, more land based wind turbines, like the ones on Aquidneck Island, may become more common in the Ocean State.

“I expect to see plenty of projects announced this spring,” said Kenneth Payne, administrator for the State of Rhode Island’s Office of Energy Resources.

The locations of these land based wind turbines have yet to be announced.

Energy prices are expected to jump 10 percent in the next year in the Ocean State and the state must find ways to compensate for the price increases. Payne says the state wants to improve efficiency as well as introduce more renewable energy into the local economy.

“Rhode Island has almost no control over energy prices,” said Payne. “But what we can do is control use and by doing that, we can make ourselves less vulnerable to price spikes in the future.”

According to the state’s energy plan, Rhode Islanders currently consume the least amount of energy per capita. However, energy commands a significant part of the state’s economic activity, about 7.5 percent.

There are currently only 2,328 “green collar” jobs in Rhode Island, according to the Pew Charitable Trust, but Payne says as the state moves closer to adopting green technology, there will be a significant increase in the amount of green jobs.

Chris Benzak of Newport Biodiesel holds one of these “green collar” jobs. Benzak, along with his colleagues, recycle used cooking grease to produce biodiesel, a renewable fuel that can be used in vehicles and home-heating.

“Biodiesel has essentially the same qualities as petroleum diesel,” Benzak said.

In the winter months in the Ocean State, home heating oil is an expensive, but necessary, expenditure. B20, a mixture of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel, can be burned in homes and business with no modifications to the equipment. Also, the state exempts biodiesel from the 30 cent excise tax normally levied on petroleum diesel.

“We’ve found that there is no premium for being green,” Benzak said in regards to the lower price of biodiesel. “But, we have to compete with petroleum because our product does the same thing.”

Benzak says biodiesel is better for machinery as well as the environment.

“There are these excellent benefits in biodiesel like up to 80 percent less carbon emissions, no black soot and it’s a sustainable product,” Benzak said. “It’s got a great lubricity, all the sulfur has been taken out of our fuel for the last few years.”

Newport Biodiesel currently partners with over 500 restaurants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to obtain the material needed to produce biodiesel, and also the number of restaurant partners grows weekly. Benzak says Newport Biodiesel’s success can be attributed to the company’s commitment to the community by producing a product made locally for local use.

“We typically don’t operate outside of a 60 mile range,” Benzak said.

Rhode Island still has yet solve its energy problems. The Ocean State has the third highest unemployment rate in the nation, making the local economy a priority for both business and government. With more renewable energy on the way, Rhode Islanders may see a dramatic increase in green energy use in just a few years.