January 22, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, founder and director of the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University, has released a report that was delivered to the White House recently, outlining at least 200 ideas on how the nation can move closer to a clean energy economy and reduce America's carbon emissions over the next three years.

Credit: Oarabile Mudongo/Wikimedia Commons.

Ritter calls the report a "comprehensive menu of options" and was developed over eight months with the help of more than 100 CEOs, energy experts, academicians and thought leaders who participated in a series of roundtables last year. Not all of the participants agreed with all of the ideas, but the report reflects the recommendations that received the strongest support.

"The president has led the nation on clean energy and climate change since he took office, including the initiatives in the climate action plan he announced last June," Ritter said. "In the face of congressional inaction, the new recommendations are intended to help the administration continue to lead."

Ritter briefed members of the president's Cabinet and senior policy staff at the White House last week, including Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Deputy EPA Administrator Robert Perciasepe, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology John Holdren, Administrator of the General Services Administration Dan Tangherlini; Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley and Dan Utech, the President's top climate advisor.

"The climate action plan President Obama issued last June shows that the President is willing to act when Congress fails to do its job," said Heather Zichal, the former Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. "The Powering Forward report provides key recommendations for the White House to navigate America's crucial and inevitable transition to clean energy. And it's going to take all the tools we have available if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate change."

Among the recommendations is to carefully compare the full life-cycle benefits and costs of each energy resource as his national energy policy is implemented, as additional opportunities to distinguish carbon-rich and low-carbon resources exist and are consistent with the president's goals for minimizing the greenhouse gas emissions most responsible for climate change.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) should review and improve how it counts "green jobs" and resume reporting the number of those jobs in the economy, according to the report. The BLS suspended its reporting on green jobs last year after it was criticized for its methodology.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue clear preliminary guidance to states as early as possible in the regulatory process to encourage early adoption of new energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, and explain how they will be credited in state implementation plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants, the report suggests.

The report urges the Energy Information Administration (EIA) should review and, if necessary, improve its methods for projecting the growth of renewable energy technologies in years ahead. EIA has been criticized for underestimating renewable energy's contribution to the nation's energy mix and has not responded to FierceEnergy's request for comments.

Further, the report says that federal agencies should work with electric utilities and utility regulators to update regulations that are getting in the way of clean energy technologies.

Utility executives told CNEE that outdated regulations are making it difficult to accommodate new energy resources and technologies such as wind energy and rooftop solar systems.

"As one utility executive put it, today's new energy technologies are 10 years ahead of utilities in the United States, and utilities are 10 years ahead of regulations," Ritter said.

Changes in the electric industry and pressure to modernize the grid, add renewable energy, reduce pollution and invest in energy saving technology require investments but also reduce revenue. Industry leaders raise 'death spiral' concerns and utility executives say they need new business and regulatory models, but no one wants to be first.

The report suggests ways the federal government can lead in this area:

First, request that the IRS use its existing authorities to issue rulings and interpretations of the tax code that increase incentives for private investors to capitalize clean energy technologies.

"The idea is not to make the tax system more complex," Ritter said. "It's to make it more fair by offering clean energy the same investment tools and tax benefits now given to fossil fuels."

Second, issue even more aggressive goals for the government's use of third-party financing for energy-efficiency and renewable energy improvements in federal operations, allowing the government to have guaranteed savings on its energy bills at no cost to taxpayers.

Third, clearly define the President's criteria for "responsible" natural gas production and require that oil and gas companies use best available production practices on federal lands.

For more:
- see this report

 

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