, and the regulatory agencies — went toward ensuring that this dynamic would not occur again. reforms, and other measures taken by the industry, raised the quantity and quality of bank capital, so banks could withstand a severe downturn and continue lending. they established higher levels of liquidity, so banks could meet customer and counterparty demands. they required improvements in risk management, so banks could avoid unexpected losses lurking in their books. they improved operational resiliency, so banks could keep their doors open and their lights on after a shock. as a result, banks entered this crisis in a position of strength. over the past two months, the federal reserve took more than 30 supervisory and regulatory actions to ensure financial institutions could use this strength to support consumers, households, and businesses. 2 • we advised institutions that working constructively with customers, offering them responsible loan modifications and small - dollar credit, is a safe and sound banking practice more than appropriate to this extraordinary time. 3 2 see board of governors of the federal reserve system, “ supervisory and regulatory actions in response to covid - 19, ” at https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / supervisory - regulatory - action - response - covid - 19. htm. for a full list of federal reserve covid19 resources, see board of governors of the federal reserve system, “ coronavirus disease 2019 ( covid - 19 ), ” at https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / covid - 19. htm. 3 see, e. g., board of governors of the federal reserve system, conference of state bank supervisors, consumer financial protection bureau, federal deposit insurance corporation, national credit union administration, and office of the comptroller of the currency, “ agencies provide additional information to encourage financial institutions to work with borrowers affected by covid - 19, ” news release, march 22, 2020 ( revised april 7, 2020 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / pressreleases / bcreg20200322a. htm ; board of governors of the federal reserve system, consumer financial protection bureau, federal deposit insurance corporation, national credit union administration, and office of the comptroller of the currency, “ federal agencies encourage banks, savings associations and credit unions to offer responsible small - dollar loans to consumers and small businesses affected by covid - 19, ” news release, march 26, 2020, https

coal in electric power generation is nuclear power. low prices for competing fuels and concerns about safety have been a drag on this industry. still, its share of electricity production in the united states has increased from less than 5 percent in 1973 to about 20 percent in 2000. given the steps that have been taken over the years to make nuclear energy safer and the obvious environmental advantages it has in terms of reducing emissions, the time may have come to consider whether we can overcome the impediments to tapping its potential more fully. up front, of course, is the challenge of finding an acceptable way to store spent fuel and radioactive waste. if this problem can be resolved and if some of the long - deferred research and development efforts to make nuclear power more economical were to bear fruit, the potential for nuclear power could doubtless be enlarged. the remainder of our domestic energy production comes from a variety of renewable energy sources, the most prominent of which are hydroelectric power from dams and the energy generated through the recycling of waste and byproducts from industry and agriculture. solar and wind power have proved economical in some small - scale and specialized uses, but together they account for only a tiny fraction of renewable energy. more broadly, substantial experimentation and exploration is under way in the application of advanced technologies to alternative approaches to energy production and conservation. improvements in fuel cell technology, for example, hold considerable promise in a wide variety of commercial applications. with rapid scientific advances, it is not inconceivable that technological breakthroughs will allow nonconventional energy sources to play a larger role in meeting our demand for energy than is currently the case. in closing, i would like to stress again the importance of developments in energy markets for both the near - term and longer - run health of our nation's economy. in the short run, energy markets must be monitored closely for their potential effects on the cyclical behavior of the macroeconomy. over the longer haul, the experience of the past fifty years – and indeed much longer than that – suggests the central role that can be played by market forces in conserving scarce energy resources, directing those resources to their highest valued uses, and ultimately ensuring adequate productive capacity for the future. to be sure, energy issues present policymakers and citizens with difficult decisions and tradeoffs to make outside the market process ; as always, national security and environmental concerns need to be addressed in setting policy. but those concerns should be addressed in a manner that, to