Note: Synopsis based on OurEnergyPolicy.org review of Congressional committee and office summaries, third party analyses, and media summaries. Synopsis intended solely for the purposes of generating discussion.

Federal Energy Planning

  • Would require a new comprehensive Federal energy plan one year into each new Presidential term.

Emergent Energy Technology Investment

  • Would establish the Clean Energy Deployment Administration to facilitate financing for clean energy technologies and expand the U.S. market for such technologies.
  • Would establish a 4-year integrated plan to double the U.S. investment in energy innovation and technology, to a total of almost $6.6 billion, with a complementary set of programs to enhance energy jobs training and workforce development.

Renewable Electricity Standard

  • Would require electric utilities to meet 15% of their sales through renewable sources of energy or energy efficiency by 2021. New nuclear power, updates to existing nuclear facilities, and municipal solid waste incineration are not included in the base quantity.
  • States would be able to petition for permission for up to 26.67% of these targets to be met by energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency

  • Would direct the Secretary of Energy to explore and develop new energy efficiency standards for lighting products, commercial furnaces, and other appliances.
  • New energy efficiency standards for buildings would require 30% improvement by 2010 and 50% improvement by 2016. Electricity Transmission and Grid
  • Would establish a national inter-state transmission policy to support a range of goals, including renewable energy development, reliability, efficiency and fuel diversity.
  • Would direct FERC to establish regional planning to work toward power sector interconnection processes that achieve the Federal energy policy goals and facilitate the construction of High Priority National Transmission Projects (HPNTP). FERC would be directed to establish a methodology for allocating the cost of HPNTPs. That methodology may distribute costs across a region to electric customers and/or to electricity generators.
  • Would set and direct FERC to enforce national standards requiring all utilities to make available interconnection service to customers generating electric power from small generators under 15 kW.
  • Would grant authority to FERC and the Secretary of Energy to issue additional rules to protect critical electric infrastructure and related information from cyber security threats.

Electric Vehicles

  • Would direct the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Academies of Science to conduct a series of market and technical capacity studies for plug-in electric light duty vehicles.
  • Would establish a pilot grant program for the purchase of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) by federal agencies. Would establish a program to support the deployment of PHEVs by providing financial support to State and local governments.

Oil Market Information

  • Would increase the transparency of oil markets – including the role of financial markets in driving oil prices – and give U.S. energy regulators enforcement authorities against oil market tampering and manipulation similar to those now available to U.S. financial market regulators.

National Oil Reserves

  • Would create of a 30 million barrel petroleum product reserve to help prevent sudden shortfalls and price spikes.
  • Would open the Eastern Gulf of Mexico to leasing and exploration for oil and gas. This would make an estimated 3.8 billion barrels of new oil resources and 21.5 trillion cubic feet of new natural gas resources available.