Description: For my Information Exploration class at the University of Kansas, we were tasked with creating a podcast script on Renewable Energy in Kansas. The primary skills this project helps build are understanding how to properly research and find information about a local issue, evaluating those sources, and using them in the final project. This project summarizes general information about renewable energy, as well as local and national context, scholarly research and data.
Block 1: Local Chronology
Nearly 70 years ago, Kansas City Power & Light Co. built an all-electric home full of the latest technology. Technology included outlets, buttons to turn on and off lights throughout the house, and a fake fireplace simulating the sights and sounds of a fire.
Kansas’s improvements in energy production have come a long way since then, but it’s taken the state a while to get to where it is today.
Coal has been mined in Kansas since the 1850s in the eastern part of the state, but the last coal mine stopped operations in 2016. Alongside coal, oil is also popular, with Kansas’s contribution accounting for about 1% of U.S. crude oil output.
Hugoton Gas Area is one of the largest gas fields in the U.S. and is located in much of southwest Kansas and parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
The state’s oil production has declined since 2015. In fact, the annual oil output in 2020 was at its lowest in more than forty years.
In Kansas in 2019, wind surpassed coal as being the largest energy source for electricity. A year later, renewables provided 44% of Kansas’s in-state electricity net generation, placing Kansas at second in the nation in renewable energy production.
Clean power has brought in $12.7 billion in capital investment already, as well as supporting nearly 3,100 jobs. Even for those not already employed, these energy projects have paid out $32.3 million in land lease payments to ranchers and farmers across Kansas.
David Toland, the Kansas Secretary of Commerce, said, “Our stellar record of renewable energy development has put our state on the map, attracting businesses that demand renewables as a part of their portfolio to the great state of Kansas.”
Major companies that have become drawn to the state include Home Depot, Target and Amazon, which also brings more jobs to the state.
According to the Kansas Department of Commerce projects converting waste heat or biomass to energy can receive state tax credits. Development incentives like this, as well as incentive payments, sales tax exemptions and financial assistance for training, are often available to producers in the community who use alternative energy sources.
EIA also said, “In 2015, the Kansas legislature converted the state’s mandatory renewable portfolio standard, enacted in May 2009, into a voluntary Renewable Energy Standard goal for the state’s investor-owned and cooperative electric utilities. Under the RES goal, electricity providers obtain 20% of their annual peak power demand from in-state generating capacity fueled by eligible renewable resources by 2020. Unlike other states, the Kansas RES is based on generating capacity rather than electricity retail sales.”
The efforts are working, too, as Kansas generates over 7,000 MW of electricity from renewable sources. This is equivalent to powering 2.8 million homes, more homes than Kansas even has in the state.
However, one renewable energy source in Kansas has been more successful than the rest. Kansas had the second-largest share of electricity generated from wind – landing just behind Iowa.
Kansas is the perfect state for wind turbine component manufacturing and service operations for the preservation of all the wind turbines in and around the state.
The first large-scale wind project in the state went up near the end of 2001 in Gray County. According to NRDC, “Kansas wind resources grew from generating <1 percent of the state’s electricity in 2005 to more than 40 percent today,” which proves the wind industry to be successful in terms of energy production.
According to KCUR, The Grain Belt Express was built across private land in Kansas to deliver wind energy from the southwest area of the state to other, more populated areas of the country, stretching from Dodge City into Indiana.
Landowners are upset about a private company using eminent domain to complete its project, but they are not all opposed to clean energy. To offset this, the company will give landowners 110% of the market value of their land, along with $18,000 per tower placed on property. Farms remaining in the same family for over 100 years are paid more.
Patrick Whitty, a senior vice president at Grain Belt Express developer Invenergy, said, “One of the major reliability benefits for Grain Belt will be the ability to also move power under emergency conditions from east to west. Had Grain Belt been in place during [the winter storm power outages of February 2021], we know that some of those outage events could have been minimized or even avoided altogether.”
30 of the 105 counties in Kansas use some form of wind energy, with about 3,500 turbines in the state. Since 2001, the industry has created 8,682 construction jobs and 563 ongoing jobs in Kansas.
Kit Thompson, chair of the renewable energy program at Cloud County Community College, said on the wind industry, “It’s not just that the industry needs to hire a lot of new technicians. They’re offering very, very good pay.” In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median pay for wind tech in 2020 was around $56,000 a year.
Colleges and schools in the state are also promoting the usage of renewable energy through programs and their own energy usage.
For example, the University of Kansas uses wind energy on its campus. An article from LJWorld said, “Data from the Green Power Partnership shows wind energy supplied nearly 85% of KU’s total electricity usage in 2021.”
According to the Kansas Department of Commerce, “Johnson County Community College has a Solar Learning Lab and offers an Electrical Technology certificate program and an Associate of Applied Science degree that includes training for solar photovoltaic installers.”
Biomasses in the state are also a form of renewable energy. There are 3 million cattle in southwest Kansas, and biofuel plants enjoy the price savings of sending wet distillers grains to said nearby feedlots. A memo from planner Mary Miller lists some common examples of agrivoltaic land use, like planting pollinator plants & installing bee hives for honey production; grazing sheep or larger livestock; or raising fruits, vegetables or other crops.
As a whole, some people also view Kansas to not be doing enough when it comes to renewable energy.
Jesse Jenkins, a researcher at the Andlinger Center for Energy & Environment at Princeton University, said, “There are opportunities there, but if they’re going to compete with neighboring states that have similar endowments – similar wind quality, similar solar quality, maybe a little bit closer to the cities – they’re going to have to probably take proactive steps to be as attractive as possible.”
Rabbi Moti Rieber, a climate activist and executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, said, “We need to be talking about how to, A: get Kansas fully integrated into the clear energy economy that is upon us and, B: how do we deal with climate changes that are happening in Kansas. Claiming that climate change isn’t real and tilting against wind turbines is not going to get us there.”
It isn’t only about the Kansas government not doing enough for the renewable energy cause, but also that renewable energy is just too expensive.
When Toyota announced the hybrid version of the RAV4, Kansas City resident Robyn Quiñones said she couldn’t make the purchase due to the cost.
Even short-term costs are important in how a customer interacts with renewable energy. According to research by Islam El-adaway, if an installation cost for solar panels increase by $100, a consumer is 65% less likely to install them.
For more information about renewable energy in Kansas, contact:
- David Toland
- Address: 300 S.W. 10th Ave. Topeka, KS 66612
- Phone: 785-368-8500
- Mary Miller
- Gabrielle Habeeb
- Ashok Gupta
- Dewain Pfaff
- Kit Thompson
- Contact
- Phone: 800-729-5101
Block 2: National Context
Renewable energy comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly being replenished. It is often considered and thought of as a new technology, but the use of harnessing nature’s power for our own gain has been used for a long time, whether for heating, transportation, lighting and more.
Renewables account for more than one-eighth of U.S. energy generation, but is the fastest growing energy source, increasing 42% from 2010 to 2020, comparatively up 90% from 2000 to 2020.
Renewable energy helps to reduce energy imports and fossil fuel use, the largest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.
According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, “Renewable energy sources are considered to be zero (wind, solar, and water), low (geothermal) or neutral (biomass) with regard to greenhouse gas emissions during their operation. A neutral source has emissions that are balanced by the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during the growing process.”
The clean energy industry generated hundreds of billions in economic activity, and is expected to grow rapidly in years to come.
Abel Gustafson, a postdoctoral associate with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said, “People want their energy sources to be clean and cheap. They want to avoid pollution and environmental harms and they want to keep the cost low.”
Google, Microsoft, Intel, Walmart and Equinix were the top five users of renewable energy as of August 2020, and individual businesses with sustainability goals are also pushing renewable energy use and growth by building their own facilities.
While wind is popular in Kansas, it is also popular all around the country. It has become the cheapest energy source in many parts of the U.S.
The Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan said, “Wind turbines generate no emissions and use no water when producing electricity, but concerns include bat and bird mortality, land use, noise, and aesthetics.”
Solar energy is the fastest-growing energy source around the country. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “more energy from the sun falls on the earth in one hour than is used by everyone in the world in one year.”
With uncertainty about federal tax credits, California’s Low Carbon fuel standard, fuel prices and economic growth will impact the pace of renewable energy development going forward.
Also in the Golden State, California produced enough renewable energy on April 3, 2022 to meet all the full demand for the first time. Thanks to energy storage, there may be some days without wind or sun where other sources are needed, whether it be natural gas power plants or not.
Mark Specht of the Union of Concerned Scientists said, “We should be doing everything we can to build huge amounts of solar, huge amounts of wind, huge amounts of energy storage. And that’s going to get us at least, like, 90% of the way there to a clean grid. It’s really that last 5 to 10% where it starts to get much harder.”
Other factors affecting deployment of renewable energy include market conditions, such as cost and proximity, and policy decisions, such as tax credits and renewable portfolio standards.
According to Pew Research, “Most U.S. adults continue to support expanding solar panel farms (84%) and wind turbine farms (77%), but Republicans and Democrats are increasingly divided in views on these two energy sources.”
About a third of Republicans and Republican learners describe their views as moderate or liberal. Also according to Pew, they “are much more likely than conservative Republicans to see local impacts of climate change, support policies to address it, and say the federal government is doing too little in areas of environmental protection.”
Republican support for increasing solar energy use has dropped from 84% in 2020 to 73% in 2021, and support for wind power dropped from 75% to 62%, while around 90% of Democrats continue to support expanding solar and wind power.
Gustafson said, “It’s much easier to find common ground and to work together on some of these political issues than it is to persuade someone and change their fundamental belief system and values. It is much more effective to find ways to show people that we are all on the same team and we can all move toward a common goal together. And renewable energy is a great example of an opportunity to do that.”
Some states are making progress anyway, without worry of larger political concerns.
Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space, said, “Environmental justice means we need to ask hard questions about who is asked to carry the burden and who receives the benefits. These kinds of partnerships allow us to bring energy benefits to environmental justice communities while helping us achieve our collective goal of decarbonization.”
White-Hammond was referring to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s Solarize Eastie program, which will increase solar panel installation and battery storage in East Boston and make renewable energy more affordable and accessible to residents. The program is a partnership with GreenRoots, along with another partnership with Mass Save, to provide energy efficiency solutions for residents, small businesses, houses of worship and local nonprofits.
Mayor Wu said, “These partnerships embody our commitment to investing in environmental justice and energy democracy. I am grateful to GreenRoots and Mass Save for leadership for a Boston Green New Deal.”
For more information, contact:
- Brian Kennedy
- Alison Spencer
- Abel Gustafson
- David Roberts
- Heather Zichal
Block 3: Scholarly Research & Data
According to a research study titled “Renewable energy and geopolitics: a review,” “solar and wind power installations started expanding exponentially from around 2006, and the geopolitics of renewable energy received increasing attention from the expert and academic communities from around 2010 onwards.”
The article reviewed, systematized and aggregated the existing research on the geopolitical consequences of the transition to renewable energy.
According to the study, “The term ‘geopolitics’ was initially conceived as ‘a deterministic causal relationship between geography and international relations focused on the permanent rivalry, territorial expansion and military strategies of imperial powers.’ Now, geopolitics started to ‘denote the influence of geography on the power of states and international affairs more broadly, with less emphasis on determinism and more on the strategic importance of natural resources, their location, transportation routes, and chokepoints.’”
The National Science Foundation and NASA claimed in 1972 that solar power was of importance to the U.S. and would end up having environmental, social and political consequences. U.S. scholars and experts were therefore the pioneers to raising the issue of the geopolitics of renewable energy in the 70s and 80s.
According to Ladislaw, “Between 2007 and 2009 the geopolitical dynamics of energy took on a discernibly new tone. Traditional fossil-based energy producers became concerned about the apparent growth in global willingness to seriously consider alternative sources of energy.”
The study also said that renewable energy has many advantages over fossil fuels for reasons such as international peace and security, thanks to its continuous replenishment.
According to a research study titled “Towards Sustainable Energy: A Systematic Review of Renewable Energy Sources, Technologies, and Public Opinions,” “the demand for energy is increasing rapidly and, hence, it is crucial to introduce processes to meet the requirements of the growing world population and to avoid energy crises. At the current rate of energy consumption, the demand is expected to increase by 65% by the year 2030, using 2004 as the base year.”
Renewable energy is rapidly improving favors for economic growth, job creation, limiting carbon emissions, reducing air pollution, expanding energy access and improving energy security.
However, while renewable energy is taking a lot of steps forward, it may not for long, at least not in the same way. Some renewable energy sources solely depend on climate, and therefore would be adjusted based on the continuing rate of climate change.
For example, bioenergy depends on the strength of CO₂ fertilization, but will be drastically impacted with warming. As nature reserves, forests, water areas and other agricultural areas decrease, the suitability for energy production decreases.
Remembering the environment and global partnership between all, many ecosystems are being stressed.
According to a study on the cumulative effects of marine renewable energy and climate change, the English Channel “is considered as one of the most anthropized marine ecosystems in the world,” “is subjected to multiple anthropogenic drivers such as marine transport, fishing, sediment dredging and aggregate extraction,” and is also the future home of an offshore wind farm, which will create new habitats for species, but will also “lead to changes in the abundance, biomass, and species richness of benthos and fish.”
The following highlights renewable energy consumption of various sources from 2015 to 2018:
The following represents energy generated from renewable sources in an average year from January through December:
For more information, contact:
Madalynn Abele 
Leave a comment