By David Boles

The United States of America are currently drafting and debating their energy policy. This follows what President Obama alluded to in his State of the Union address back in January. On March 21, Senator Jeff Bingaman and Lisa Murkowski published a White Paper on a Clean Energy Standard(CES). This paper is a response to Obama's target of 80% of US electricity be produced from renewables (RES-E) by 2035. The paper was presented to the senate, asking for feedback relating to nuclear Energy post the Japanese Nuclear crisis. The White paper is unusual for the US in so far as it lays out a multitude of questions regarding a Clean Energy Standard. The paper promotes a clean energy standard, outlining the benefits such as increased employment, a reduction in GHG's and other emissions as well as an increase in domestic manufacturing of associated technologies. Although, the renewable debate is nothing new to congress, (see the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 which proposed a 15% mandate on RES-E BY 2021). It seems that this is the first time that a Clean Energy Bill is considered in earnest. The Committee on Energy and Natural resources, through their White Paper have provided food for thought in order to arrive at a Clean Energy Standard that ticks all the boxes. In 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), The United States obtained 20% of their electricity from nuclear plants, 10% from renewables which are defined as hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass, 25% from natural gas power plants and 45% from coal power plants. In real terms, the US have 10% RES-E, but under the president's proposal which includes Nuclear and attributes half credits to combined cycle natural gas plants, this figure jumps to 40% of its electricity from clean sources. However recent events in Japan have cast a long shadow over this synopsis. The EIA have published an Energy outlook up to 2035. It is estimated that electricity generation will increase by 20% by 2035, with the majority of new capacity to come from gas, which is predicted to hold its 25% Stake of the energy mix, throughout this period. RES-E is expected to grow to a 14% share. Nuclear was expected to add capacity but reduce its overall capacity to 17% by 2035, but this was pre- Fukushima. Coal Generation is expected to grow but decrease to a 42% share of the generation mix.

A number of key elements are outlined in order to promote healthy debate and achieve the most successful Clean Energy standard(CES) possible:

1. What should the threshold be for inclusion in the Clean Energy Standard? Previous policies set a threshold of 4 million MW/hrs but Obama's CES proposal mentions no threshold and appears to be fully inclusive of all utilities.
2. What Resources qualify as 'clean energy'? President's Obama's proposal seeks to include the likely suspects of hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass as well as nuclear plants, coal plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and highly efficient gas plants without CCS. Past proposals have included energy efficiency for compliance but this most recent proposal will not.
3. How should the crediting system and timetables be designed? This covers the design of the system, setting baseline components for the mandate and the use of integrated targets to achieve the overall target. Will partial credits be issued for 'cleaner fossil fuels' such as gas?
4. How will a CES affect the deployment of particular technologies? What credit price will promote the use of renewables, while ensuring the best energy mix at the best price for the consumers?
5. How should alternative compliance payments, regional costs, and consumer protections be addressed? The CES must negate regional disparities as far as possible, ensuring price certainty for consumers and utilities. Will cost containment measures be necessary.
6. How would the CES interact with other policies? The CES target of 80% by 2035, will require the deployment of a wide range of technologies, the cost of which will vary greatly, so technology specific supporting policies may be necessary.

There have been examples of voluntary CES's called Tradable Green certificates quota based systems in Belgium, Sweden and the UK, which provide useful case studies for the US model. They all have the common goal of achieving price parity for renewables against fossil fuel generation.

Other News:

• The national emissions registries of Greece and Latvia will resume normal operations on 30 March 2011. This will bring the number of reopened registries to 23 after the cyber attacks on January 19^th.
• The start of the third phase (2013-2020) will see power generators pay for all of their allowances. Today the EU commission published rules on transitional free allocation to the power sector. This measure will allow 10 member states to allocate a limited number of allowances for free to power stations instead of selling them.
• Three Chinese airlines join a US lawsuit over their mandated inclusion into the EU-ETS.

By David Boles

The United States of America are currently drafting and debating their energy policy. This follows what President Obama alluded to in his State of the Union address back in January. On March 21, Senator Jeff Bingaman and Lisa Murkowski published a White Paper on a Clean Energy Standard(CES). This paper is a response to Obama's target of 80% of US electricity be produced from renewables (RES-E) by 2035. The paper was presented to the senate, asking for feedback relating to nuclear Energy post the Japanese Nuclear crisis. The White paper is unusual for the US in so far as it lays out a multitude of questions regarding a Clean Energy Standard. The paper promotes a clean energy standard, outlining the benefits such as increased employment, a reduction in GHG's and other emissions as well as an increase in domestic manufacturing of associated technologies. Although, the renewable debate is nothing new to congress, (see the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 which proposed a 15% mandate on RES-E BY 2021). It seems that this is the first time that a Clean Energy Bill is considered in earnest. The Committee on Energy and Natural resources, through their White Paper have provided food for thought in order to arrive at a Clean Energy Standard that ticks all the boxes. In 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), The United States obtained 20% of their electricity from nuclear plants, 10% from renewables which are defined as hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass, 25% from natural gas power plants and 45% from coal power plants. In real terms, the US have 10% RES-E, but under the president's proposal which includes Nuclear and attributes half credits to combined cycle natural gas plants, this figure jumps to 40% of its electricity from clean sources. However recent events in Japan have cast a long shadow over this synopsis. The EIA have published an Energy outlook up to 2035. It is estimated that electricity generation will increase by 20% by 2035, with the majority of new capacity to come from gas, which is predicted to hold its 25% Stake of the energy mix, throughout this period. RES-E is expected to grow to a 14% share. Nuclear was expected to add capacity but reduce its overall capacity to 17% by 2035, but this was pre- Fukushima. Coal Generation is expected to grow but decrease to a 42% share of the generation mix.

A number of key elements are outlined in order to promote healthy debate and achieve the most successful Clean Energy standard(CES) possible:

1. What should the threshold be for inclusion in the Clean Energy Standard? Previous policies set a threshold of 4 million MW/hrs but Obama's CES proposal mentions no threshold and appears to be fully inclusive of all utilities.
2. What Resources qualify as 'clean energy'? President's Obama's proposal seeks to include the likely suspects of hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass as well as nuclear plants, coal plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and highly efficient gas plants without CCS. Past proposals have included energy efficiency for compliance but this most recent proposal will not.
3. How should the crediting system and timetables be designed? This covers the design of the system, setting baseline components for the mandate and the use of integrated targets to achieve the overall target. Will partial credits be issued for 'cleaner fossil fuels' such as gas?
4. How will a CES affect the deployment of particular technologies? What credit price will promote the use of renewables, while ensuring the best energy mix at the best price for the consumers?
5. How should alternative compliance payments, regional costs, and consumer protections be addressed? The CES must negate regional disparities as far as possible, ensuring price certainty for consumers and utilities. Will cost containment measures be necessary.
6. How would the CES interact with other policies? The CES target of 80% by 2035, will require the deployment of a wide range of technologies, the cost of which will vary greatly, so technology specific supporting policies may be necessary.

There have been examples of voluntary CES's called Tradable Green certificates quota based systems in Belgium, Sweden and the UK, which provide useful case studies for the US model. They all have the common goal of achieving price parity for renewables against fossil fuel generation.

Other News:

• The national emissions registries of Greece and Latvia will resume normal operations on 30 March 2011. This will bring the number of reopened registries to 23 after the cyber attacks on January 19^th.
• The start of the third phase (2013-2020) will see power generators pay for all of their allowances. Today the EU commission published rules on transitional free allocation to the power sector. This measure will allow 10 member states to allocate a limited number of allowances for free to power stations instead of selling them.
• Three Chinese airlines join a US lawsuit over their mandated inclusion into the EU-ETS.