Narrator: This is Science Today. A new study by Ryan Wiser, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, found that use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power could save consumers money on utilities.

Wiser: If you increase the renewable energy share of the nation from the current 10 percent share to a 20 percent share, you can expect that natural gas prices may well go down by as much as 10 percent.

Narrator: Wiser's study applied a model used by the Department of Energy to calculate future energy demand, price and consumption. And while solar and wind power could lower the nations dependence on natural gas, Wiser says some utility companies are reluctant to invest heavily.

Wiser: We don't yet have utilities, universally jumping on the bandwagon; there is a concern that, wind power is intermittent. It's there when the wind blows, it's not there when the wind doesn't blow. So wind is never going to contribute 100 % of our nations electricity supply. There's going to be a need for other sources that are able to ramp up and ramp down to match the variability of wind.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.