Gov. Tom Wolf Friday issued a formal proclamation declaring the week of September 24 to 28 Clean Energy Week to highlight the advances made in the Commonwealth on clean energy to deal with issues like climate change and to create job opportunities.

The text of the proclamation follows--

WHEREAS, clean energy resources are critical to improving air quality in Pennsylvania, protecting the health of residents, helping to reduce Pennsylvania’s carbon footprint, and addressing climate change, the most critical environmental threat confronting the world; and

WHEREAS, clean energy resources support good-paying jobs, present ever-growing economic development opportunities, and reduce dependence on foreign fuel imports; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania’s clean energy portfolio includes electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric, as well as energy conservation, energy efficiency, and energy storage; and

WHEREAS, currently more than 90 percent of Pennsylvania’s zero-emission electricity is generated by nuclear power; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has a robust clean energy sector that provides tens of thousands of good paying jobs in construction, manufacturing, clean technology, and services across the state; and

WHEREAS, the number of jobs in the clean energy sector in Pennsylvania grew by over 2 percent last year, with nearly 90,000 people currently employed in the field; and

WHEREAS, through Act 129 – Pennsylvania’s flagship energy efficiency law – the Commonwealth has saved over 8.8 million megawatt hours of electricity usage since 2009 resulting in $6.4 billion in savings to Pennsylvania electric customers, while employing over 65,000 people in the field; and

WHEREAS, in 2018, Pennsylvania has over 354 megawatts of solar power generation installed at nearly 19,000 homes, farms, and businesses, and nearly 5,000 people employed in the solar energy field; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has over 1,300 megawatts of wind power generation installed on 24 wind farms providing enough electricity to power nearly 350,000 Pennsylvania homes, with nearly 3,000 people employed in the wind energy field; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has 892 megawatts of conventional hydropower and 1,583 megawatts of pumped storage hydropower capacity and hundreds of people employed in the traditional hydro-electric field; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has over 10,400 megawatts of generation capacity from five nuclear power plants, ranking second in the nation in electricity generation from nuclear power, which supplies over 40 percent of the state’s net electricity generation, with nearly 5,000 people employed in the nuclear energy field; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania purchases at least 30 percent of all electricity consumed in state-owned facilities from clean and renewable energy sources, ranking us as the top state for renewable energy purchases in 2018; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has taken numerous steps in recent years to demonstrate and encourage energy conservation, sustainability, and the usage of renewable energy, including passing new legislation to grow Pennsylvania’s solar industry, promoting energy efficiency through utility ratemaking, and allowing innovative project financing through Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy investments; and

WHEREAS, a cleaner, more resilient, more diverse energy grid benefits all Pennsylvania residents by protecting public health and ensuring the availability of low-cost, reliable energy; and

WHEREAS, for all these reasons, Pennsylvania seeks to be a leader in development of clean energy resources

THEREFORE, I, Tom Wolf, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby proclaim September 24 – 28, 2018, as CLEAN ENERGY WEEK in Pennsylvania and encourage all Pennsylvanians to support clean, lowest-emitting energy technologies.

GIVEN under my hand and the Seal of the Governor, at the City of Harrisburg, this twentieth day of September two thousand eighteen, the year of the commonwealth the two hundred forty-third.

Click Here for a copy of the proclamation.

(Photo: Elizabethtown College’s 2.6-megawatt solar PV system in Lancaster County.)

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[Posted: Sept. 21, 2018]

9/24/2018