EIA urged to reconsider its renewable energy forecasts.

Nearly 100 organizations sign on to letter spotlighting agency’s flawed estimates:

Reposted from Sustainable Industries:

In a letter sent Tuesday to Adam Sieminski, administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nearly 100 organizations and businesses urged the EIA to reconsider the methodology used in developing its renewable energy forecasts.

The letter expressed concern that “EIA’s estimates in past issues of the ‘Annual Energy Outlook’ for future electrical generation from renewable energy sources in the near- and mid-term have been unreasonably low and have not been borne out by actual experience.”

It noted, for example, the “reference case” in the ‘Annual Energy Outlook 2013’ projected renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) might constitute only 14 to 16 percent of the nation’s electrical generation by 2040. However, renewables already accounted for 14.2 precent of net generation during the first six months of 2013, according to EIA’s own data.