Today, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released a Policy Paper titled “10 Steps to a Low-Carbon Economy” as part of their series “Progressive Growth; Transforming America’s Economy Through Clean Energy Innovation and Opportunity.” They have also created a video to accompany the paper (see bottom of post). Directed at the next administration and its policymakers, the 10 steps advocated include:
Create a green-house gas emissions cap-and-trade program- Eliminate Federal tax breaks and subsidies for gas and oil industries
- Increase vehicle fuel economy - 40 mpg by 2020, 55 mpg by 2030
- Increase production and availability of alternative low-carbon fuels - 25% of our nation’s transportation fuels by 2025 - Reduce life cycle emissions from transportation fuels by 10% by 2020 - 15% of fuel “pumps” (including dedicated electricity charging stations for plug-in hybrid vehicles) provide low-carbon alternative fuels in any county in the U.S. where 15% of vehicles can run on these alternative fuels.
- Invest in low-carbon mass transportation infrastructure
- Improve efficiency in energy generation, transmission and consumption - 10% energy savings through efficiency upgrades by 2020
- Increase production of renewable electricity
- Use carbon capture-and-storage systems for carbon emissions from coal
- Create a White House National Energy Council - Create an Energy Innovation Council - Create an Energy Technology Corporation - Create a Clean Energy Investment - Create a Clean Energy Jobs Corp
- Lead efforts to advance international global warming policies
Leslie Berliant: Who is the audience for this paper?
Kate Batten: The next administration and policymakers.
LB: There are a few recommendations in here that may be controversial within the environmental community such as promoting biofuels and ethanol which can take a great deal of energy to create. Why are you advocating them?
KB: In the body of the report, we go into great detail about promoting only the lowest carbon emitting biofuels that can be sustainably produced. We advocate sustainability standards and a renewable fuels certification program with transparent sustainability labeling so that consumers know how these fuels are being produced. If, for example, the government bought only 50 – 80% sustainably produced biofuels, it could really help drive energy sustainability. We don’t advocate just corn based ethanol, but the best possible production of biofuels as well as an increase in electric.
LB: How much revenue will cap and trade create?
KB: Estimates say at least $75 billion per year.
LB: Is 10% enough to help workers in industries like coal make a transition to other work?
KB: There is a Congressional Budget Office report that looks at how money could be allocated. We are shooting for a number to help offset some of these industries but not generate windfall profits. The CBO says 13% needed from auction to help offset costs for emitting industries, this includes businesses, shareholders, workers and communities. A very important part of our policy recommendations is to dedicate 45% of the cap-and-trade auction revenue to help alleviate energy costs for low and middle income Americans. Americans are already experiencing rising energy costs, so we advocate helping to offset those. In addition, The White House National Energy Council that we propose will promote a green collar job corp to help train workers to take on new low carbon jobs.
LB: Are you considering nuclear energy as part of the clean energy mix?
KB: We address nuclear very briefly. Concerning existing nuclear power plants, since they are currently producing zero carbon energy, we recommend keeping them for now, but no new construction of nuclear power because there are safety and proliferation issues with nuclear.
LB: Where will the money come from to invest in mass transit?
KB: This will also come from cap-and-trade auction revenue and from repealing the tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas which will provide an additional 6 billion annually. By repealing the subsidies and tax breaks and implementing a cap-and-trade system, there will be enough revenue to invest in all of the proposals we outline. A detailed budget to accompany the paper will be forthcoming.
LB: You advocate energy efficiency as a carbon reduction measure. California has had a lot of success with this, holding energy use steady over the last 30 years while other states have doubled their energy use. Why has the rest of the country not followed suit?
KB: California has been very progressive in terms of restricting new power generation construction. They have seen the light with efficiency. The rest of country is not there yet, but we can look toward California as a model for the rest of the country to follow. California has de-coupled electricity rates from profits so that they can make profit and be efficient. We need to decouple rates from profits on a national scale and incentivize efficiency. We promote a National Energy Efficient Resource Standard of 10% energy savings by 2020 through efficiency upgrades and changing the way we emit power in the grid. We waste a lot of energy by transmitting it long distances, we need to update the grid.
LB: What do you mean by “advanced-coal energy production”?
KB: We mean employing the best available technology to capture and sequester carbon emissions. The best technologies right now are projected to be able to capture 85%, but we think that in time we can get that number higher.
LB: Why create a bunch of new Federal Agencies? Shouldn’t NASA and the EPA be working on issues of clean energy, efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction?
KB: We recommend a combination of both. The establishment of a White House National Energy Council is to make sure there is someone in the White House making energy and global warming the highest priority. Their role will be to convene all the involved agencies on a regular basis. Coordinating the agencies is very necessary and can also serve to emphasize the high priority on these issues. Federal agencies work at different scales, so a centralized focus can really help. And this National Energy Council can work on a Federal scale and on international efforts since this is a global problem. The Energy Innovation Council will coordinate among the various agencies to make sure that they are all on board. We support more than doubling R and D on clean energy across all Federal agencies. The point of these new councils is to highlight areas where we are not currently maximizing the potential for the development of low carbon technologies, to fill the gaps that are not currently filled. The Clean Energy Investment Administration is modeled on the Small Business Administration to provide loan guarantees for the private sector to encourage research and development of new technologies that may be more financially risky. The Clean energy Jobs Corp does not yet exist, but will be necessary to help workers make the transition. This is all paid for by removing the current subsidies and implementing cap-and-trade.
LB: You advocate the development of an E-8, something that Hillary Clinton spoke about at the recent Presidential Forum on Global Warming and America’s Energy Future. With Australia now coming in line with the Kyoto Protocol, are you hopeful that the US will follow suit before there is a change in administration?
KB: E-8 was a CAP proposal from a while ago that Senator Clinton has adopted. As far as this administration coming on board, it remains to be seen. Next month, the U.N. holds its meeting to discuss post 2012 protocols. This could be an opportunity for the U.S. to demonstrate that it's committed to solving the climate crisis. The Bush administration decision earlier this year to hold their own meeting with the leading emitters (rather than engage with the U.N.) shows that they are not necessarily ready to make a serious commitment. There is mounting international pressure right now. They have an opportunity, but it remains to be seen what happens.
By the way, this is one part of an overall series of papers for the next administration called “Progressive Growth; Transforming America’s Economy Through Clean Energy Innovation and Opportunity”. We have great, smart people here and we need to invest in innovation creating new opportunities, job growth and economic growth across the board. There are so many opportunities with energy, we need to take advantage of them.
