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Making the Connection Between Energy and American Manufacturing

By Eric McErlain
This morning at a meeting in Virignia, NEI President and CEO Skip Bowman addressed the Council of Manufacturing Associations, an associated organization of the National Association of Manufacturers, and had this to say about the link between affordable electricity and economic growth:
I know everyone in this room understands that our manufacturing and our economy is inextricably linked to affordable, abundant electricity.

The United States is using more and more of its energy in the form of electricity and this trend will continue. Since 1973, U.S. GDP has grown by 150 percent. Electricity consumption increased by 96 percent. Overall energy use has gone up, too, but only by about one-third. It doesn’t take a math whiz to conclude that American manufacturing and the electric power industry must grow in harmony.

Electric power sales represent 3 to 4 percent of our gross domestic product. But the other 96 to 97 percent of our $11-trillion-a-year economy depends on that 3 to 4 percent.

We cannot afford to gamble with something as fundamental as electricity supply, and the biggest problem we face with nuclear energy is not having enough of it.


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Comments

Stewart Peterson said…
The fundamental notion that nuclear energy is the only long-term way to generate large amounts of electricity is not disputed. See http://niof.blogspot.com/2005/07/anti-nuclear-quote-of-day_29.html and http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/nuc-power.asp
August 4, 2005 at 2:30 PM
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