Owen Paterson Quotes

I think the fossil fuel industry is genuinely freaked out by the combination of the price collapse, the divestment movement, and that fact that renewable energy is getting so cheap so fast.

Even those who don't believe in climate change believe we should develop renewable energy. Americans get it: it's time. This is not controversial. It's actually right in the wheelhouse of American business.

Moving to 100 percent renewable energy is a good economic opportunity, one that the U.S. must seize before other nations take full advantage of it.

If government is so keen to let local people have a veto in stopping wind farms, why does it not allow local people to say no to fracking?

As governor, I'll work to make New Mexico a national leader in clean energy by moving to renewable energies such as solar and wind and through innovative, smart policy and practices such as methane mitigation.

Replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding renewable energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution, we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.

Renewable energy and climate change are very important to a lot of people, because we need jobs and we really, really believe that we can create jobs by moving down a path toward 100 percent renewable energy.

It's not going to help the country to be subsidizing uneconomical forms of energy - whether you call them 'green,' 'renewable' or whatever. In that case, the cure is worse than the disease.

It's important to understand that oil and renewables do different things. Wind and solar are for power generation, so they don't replace oil. About 70% of all oil produced is used for transportation fuel. Renewables are good projects, but they don't get us off of foreign oil.

A transition to clean energy is about making an investment in our future.

We need to invest dramatically in green energy, making solar panels so cheap that everybody wants them. Nobody wanted to buy a computer in 1950, but once they got cheap, everyone bought them.

You can't get a degree at Tisch College. It serves as an amplifier for what your focus is. If you're an engineer, you can take courses on understanding how to move a river in Africa to bring hydroelectric power to a community.

Today's energy mix is the result of yesterday's consumer habits, considerable investment, and various political decisions. The potential of renewable energies, now a well-established fact, is undeniable if given the time to arrive at the technical and economic maturity that will free them from subsidization policies.

Much of the U.S. Midwest is already running on bitumen. Do we want to extend this addiction? And at what cost? Or should we set other goals and say one to two million barrels of oil a day from the tar sands is all we really need to make the transition?

There are two perspectives on the oil sands. You have companies that want to make it the next Saudi Arabia. The other is that it's a transitional resource to a low-carbon economy, and to regard it as anything else is to drain the continent's financial resources.

Some solutions are relatively simple and would provide economic benefits: implementing measures to conserve energy, putting a price on carbon through taxes and cap-and-trade and shifting from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy sources.

There is an urgent need to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, dramatically reduce wasted energy, and significantly shift our power supplies from oil, coal, and natural gas to wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources.

We should not just consume hydrocarbon fuel but use it to develop nuclear energy, hydro power and renewable energy sources.

Clubbing energy efficiency with renewable energy will give us the much-needed window to incubate the renewable energy sector, particularly large solar, without having to increase the price of electricity.

Renewable energy also creates more jobs than other sources of energy - most of these will be created in the struggling manufacturing sector, which will pioneer the new energy future by investment that allows manufacturers to retool and adopt new technologies and methods.

The energy transition demands a clear vision of the steps that need to be taken and a stable, meaningful regulatory framework. It appears important to us to awaken public opinion to the fact that this transition will necessarily come at a cost and will, at least in the short term, involve a price increase.

It's true that hydropower exploitation can bring economic development, but not necessarily to the benefit of local people.

I also believe that we have an extraordinary opportunity for the United States and European Union to lead the world in developing and implementing new and more efficient technologies - smart electrical grids and electrical vehicles.

Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.

I've been very passionate about renewable energy for many years, particularly solar energy and its capacity to bring abundant clean, sustainable energy to millions around the globe.