State to get $21m for energy

North Carolina will receive $20.9 million in energy conservation grants for energy conservation and efficiency activities.

About half of that will go to the state to upgrade state-owned buildings and develop a project to create electricity through methane, Barb Barrett reports. The rest will go to local communities.

"If you can project 10 years, 15 years, 20 years ahead, you can expect the price of oil to go up," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

He also pointed out that science has shown a compelling case that climate change is threatening the planet.

"In a business-as-usual scenario, the world will be a different place, and we’re in great risk," Chu told reporters in a conference call this morning.

"Given these things, America has the opportunity to be a leader in a new industrial revolution," he said.

Also this morning, the U.S. Department of Energy released a list of economic opportunities for North Carolina in the area of energy efficiency, wind power and nuclear power.

North Carolina has vast biomass resources that could be used for power, from agriculture waste to scrap wood, the agency said. It also pointed out that some of the East Coast’s strongest wind potential exists off North Carolina’s coastline.

Chu said the state has one of the strongest nuclear power industries in the country, an area that the government is pushing.

"The Department of Energy is very actively trying to promote nuclear energy," Chu said.