Public Power - June 2008 - (Page 20)

Climate Change Solutions $40 million next year on investments in added transmission and renewables— namely, turning to biomass, grease and food waste, landfills and solar energy. SMUD also controls energy during peak times using demand-side management programs. Many utilities led by task force members already operate ambitious energy efficiency programs. Wisconsin Public Power Inc. is one of those utilities. Led by task force member Roy Thilly, WPPI’s energy efficiency programs, including central air conditioner tune-ups, CFL light bulb rebates, and programs to retire old, inefficient appliances, helped the utility save more than 25,000 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2007. And thanks to energy efficiency measures taken by Burlington Electric Department in Vermont, a utility run by task force member Barbara Grimes, 52,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided in 2006— an amount equivalent to removing 1,500 cars from the road. While making residences, businesses and utility operations more energy efficient seems evident, other conclusions have been more difficult for task force members to come to terms with. “By no means did the majority of the members of the task force embrace cap and trade,” said Gallagher. However, with all three presidential candidates in favor of a cap-and-trade system, any hope of a tax to control emissions has all but vanished. It is probable that America’s Climate Security Act of 2008, or S. 2191—a bill that would use cap and trade to reduce greenhouse gases, which passed the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee last December—will come to the Senate floor soon. The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, RVa., aims to cap emissions at 4 percent below the 2005 emission level by 2012 and reach reductions equivalent to 71 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. If achieved, these reductions would be sufficient to avoid severe impacts of global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “We would much rather have a tax approach to this problem, but that is not realistic,” said Gallagher. The reason for a tax preference, with proceeds from the tax going to research and development, is multi-faceted. Recognizing the importance of taking energy efficiency measures and educating consumers about the value of demand-side management is paramount. Although electricity generation represents only about one third of CO 2 emissions in the United States (another third comes from the transportation sector and the last third is emitted from the manufacturing industry), “the easiest place to impose the will of Congress (cap and trade) is in the electricity sector, because it is monopolistic,” said Gallagher. “There will be more cost burden on emissions, which will make electric rates increase.” On the other hand, “a tax can be done much more equitably—it may not be most effective, but from our perspective is a more fair approach,” he argues. “Public power is especially vulnerable in deregulated markets, because cap and trade is a financial system, there is no technological system developed,” said Gallagher. Under the Clean Air Act, a cap-andtrade system worked well to control sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions, because there was a technological alternative, he continued. But it might not work as well for carbon. “There is no such technology available for CO2,” said Gallagher. A cap-and-trade system means emitters PUBLIC POWER Maude GranthamRichards, chair-elect of APPA and director of the Farmington Electric Utility System in New Mexico, wants assurance that the carbon-free qualities of hydro power will be recognized in emissionsreduction goals. Photo by John Whitman 20 JUNE 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - June 2008

Public Power - June 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Finding Common Ground on Climate Change Solutions A Patchwork Approach to Renewable Energy Whose Grid Is It Anyway? The Little Utility That Could Benchmarking Customer Service Can Prairie Hay Power Your Town? Storming the Control Room Investing in the Smart Grid Coming of Age: Superconducting Cables Community Broadband Economic Development Customer Service Human Resources For Governing Boards Safety Parting Shot

Public Power - June 2008

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