118 item(s) were returned.
Administrator
OurEnergyPolicy.org
From attempts to bail out coal and nuclear to a Green New Deal, 2018 was an interesting year for energy policy. With a newly divided Congress taking office in January, it seems likely that disagreements regarding the future of the energy industry will continue in 2019, though there may be areas with potential for bipartisanship. Outside of the federal government, it can be expected that 2019 will continue the trend of many state and local governments, as well as private organizations, being active in shaping the direction of our energy sector. A major trend of 2018, which will continue into… [more]
View Discussion
Interim Director, Energy and Environment Program
The Aspen Institute
Minneapolis-based public utility Xcel Energy announced that it will be completely carbon-free by 2050. California’s SB100, which passed earlier this year, sets a similar goal for the state by 2045, but Xcel is the first utility in the nation to set a goal this bold. Xcel has already taken steps to become more sustainable. In 2017, 40% of Xcel’s electricity generation was carbon-free, with much of that coming from wind and nuclear power. According to its website, Xcel intends to double the wind power it generates by 2022 and plans to retire 40% of its coal capacity by 2027. Xcel… [more]
View Discussion
Senior Fellow
Niskanen Center
Conservative and progressive policy wonks agree: a carbon tax is the most promising of all tools to fight climate change. Such a tax would spur investments in green energy and encourage motorists to buy more electric cars. It would minimize the role of regulatory bureaucrats and maximize that of markets. What is not to love about a carbon tax? The sticking point is what to do with the billions of dollars of revenues such a tax would generate. Conservatives favor using the money for a revenue-neutral tax swap. Lower taxes on capital would encourage investment, lower payroll taxes would encourage… [more]
View Discussion
Director, Market Development & Business Affairs
Whooshh Innovations
Several years ago, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a report on the energy potential of the thousands of non-powered dams in the US. With a significant number of untapped sources readily available, it makes sense to consider how we can utilize more of this emissions-free resource by “unleashing hydropower”. Many companies have attempted to shepard one of the more than 80,000 non-powered dams through the hydropower licensing process at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) only to find that unanticipated obstacles can arise like the requirement for fish passage. Often, FERC imposes a condition on the issuance of a… [more]
View Discussion
Director of International Public Policy and Advocacy
Global Innovation Policy Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
It’s hard to overstate the growing importance of natural gas in the global energy marketplace, and the scale and mood of June’s World Gas Conference in Washington DC bore witness to the resurgent confidence of the global gas industry. With over two thousand delegates and 300 companies exhibiting in the hall, the conference reflected an industry that feels positive about its future and willing to address issues such as fugitive emissions. In 2011, the International Energy Agency talked about a potential “Golden Age of gas”. That suggestion attracted some derision at the time, as the flattening costs of renewables and… [more]
View Discussion
Research Manager
The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University
Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) require a certain percentage of the electricity sold by utilities to be from qualifying sources as determined by state statute. RPS are one of the most common state-level environmental policies; 29 states and Washington DC have mandatory standards. Despite their popularity, however, renewable portfolio standards may not achieve their environmental ends in a cost-effective manner. Basic analysis of the effects of implementing RPS shows only a nominal impact on carbon emissions, but a large impact on electricity prices. Professors at Louisiana State University compared states that had enacted RPS to states that had not, and showed… [more]
View Discussion
Founder & CEO
The Idea Logical Company, Inc.
Although there is a broad consensus that we need to “price carbon” to enable markets to account for the external costs of burning fossil fuels, no proposed national carbon tax legislation has received significant traction since the failure of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill in 2010. One formula, long advocated by the non-partisan Citizens’ Climate Lobby but never proposed as legislation, is to simply refund the tax revenue in equal shares to individuals. CCL proposed starting at $15 per ton (which equates to 15 cents per gallon of gas) with an annual increase of $10 a ton forever. CCL has been… [more]
View Discussion
University Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University, Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Electricity generated from renewables has grown rapidly in the past few decades. However, the continued growth of solar and wind is imperiled by the high costs of grid integration. While solar and wind energy enjoy low operating costs, they are intermittent and variable on multiple time scales. Thus they may not be available when needed. Storing electrical energy is costly and so is providing backup power. Thus grid integration costs rise with the growth of solar and wind generation. There is a strong positive correlation between installed wind and solar capacity versus the residential energy price in 21 member countries… [more]
View Discussion
President
Micro-Utilities, Inc.
The UN has stated that the World must urgently act to cut a further 25% from predicted 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the US, GHG emissions today are 4% above 1990 levels and are projected to increase. Based on UN goals, it appears that neither sufficient reductions in the release of GHG nor sufficient mitigations of the effects of climate change are taking place. To achieve those goals an 80% GHG reduction by 2100 would require an average reduction of 64 million metric tonnes each year for the next 82 years, or 165 million metric tonnes each year if… [more]
View Discussion
Consultant
Independent
The United States and world are facing a crisis of enormous magnitude if the global warming problem is not addressed properly. Every country in the world, except the current U.S. administration, supports the Paris climate agreement goal limiting the rise in global average surface temperature to 2°C (3.6°F). The consequences of failure could be a catastrophic future: Flooding from rising sea levels, more severe hurricanes/heat waves/wildfires, crop failures and droughts, and greater stress on an already aging infrastructure. Climate scientists generally agree carbon emissions should be reduced to near zero by mid-century to avert catastrophic global warming. But the voluntary… [more]
View Discussion