Archives for Posts Tagged ‘Bill’
Friday, April 30th, 2010
From the organizers at Repower America:
Dear Concerned Citizen,
This was supposed to be the week the Senate made history.
After years of planning and many months of careful negotiating, a major bipartisan proposal on climate and clean energy was all set to be introduced this week. The press conference was scheduled, the speeches were written, and the media was alerted. It would have kicked off debate and served as the foundation of the strong Senate bill we need so badly.
Then it all fell apart.
Comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation is being held prisoner to partisan bickering and political posturing. History has been put on hold — and I need your help to get the Senate back on track.
If enough of us make noise, we can jump-start the process and make sure that this is just a minor detour instead of another dead end.
Call your Senators right now and urge them to put partisan politics aside and take immediate action on climate and clean energy: 1-877-9-REPOWER (1-877-973-7693).
The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated.
If our leaders in Washington cannot overcome the current climate of partisanship and distrust, the bill that Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman have spent so many months laboring over could be left with no Republican support.
That would mean any hope of passing a comprehensive bill this year — a bill that would finally address the climate crisis, our addiction to oil and the future of our economy — would fade away.
We can’t let partisan bickering stand in the way of policy that is critical to Americans across every region, party, and demographic — and whose policy substance has support from courageous Senators on both sides of the aisle. The only way to get this bill back on track is for every Senator to hear from constituents who are demanding action.
Call your Senators now and tell them that they can and must end our addiction to foreign oil, create almost 2 million clean energy jobs and begin to cut carbon pollution:
1-877-9-REPOWER (1-877-973-7693)
And then report your call here.
Let’s be clear: The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill draft won’t be perfect — and we hope to be fighting over the coming weeks to strengthen it as much as possible.
But we won’t get to have that fight if we don’t make ourselves heard, right now, about how important it is to solve the climate crisis and transition to a clean energy economy.
Your voice is needed like never before.
Thanks,
Maggie L. Fox
CEO
The Climate Protection Action Fund
P.S. Last week, Arizona passed an unjust and punitive anti-immigrant law that violates common sense, human decency, and the same sense of shared humanity and responsibility for our common fate that brought many of us to the climate movement. Our founder, Vice President Al Gore, and the rest of us here at the Repower America campaign ask you to stand with us in solidarity to oppose this law, recognizing that no society that tolerates such disregard for other human beings is capable of building a healthy and sustainable economy and natural world.
Tags: Bill, Clean, Congress, Energy, Graham, Renewable, Security, Waxman
Posted in Generation Binary | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Click here to read the full version of The American Clean Energy and Security Act
Click here to read the full verison of The Clean Energy Act
So in an ironic twist of fate, today I was asked by my boss to read, analyze, and comment on “The Clean Energy Act of 2009″ (CE Act) proposed by Senator Graham, and “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″ (ACES Act) proposed by Representatives Waxman and Markey. The goal of my assignment is to better understand the differences between each version of the bill.
As you all may know, I have been blogging about the ACES Act since last November. The stakes for these pieces of legislation have never been higher. The American people demand that we pass laws to support the production of renewable energy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Furthermore, the business world demands that any new legislation be to the benefit of domestic companies, rather than incurring new costs to be passed on to the customer.
The CE Act is short, concise, to the point, and is specifically limited to improvements in Renewable Energy implementation, and energy efficiency standards. I can say that there are excellent articles of policy in here that would defiantly keep the ball rolling for Clean Energy in the U.S.A. However, there are limitations to the amount of support given to certain parties, and nothing to address the extent the Bill will ensure a mitigating impact on Global Climate Change. Furthermore, this Bill includes qualified Nuclear and Advanced Coal generation as applicable for clean energy credits.
The ACES Act is a totally different animal. This thing is longer than the Health-Care Reform Bill! I read this bill only focusing on the electricity based stipulations, and I did pretty well considering the insane size of this piece of legislation. There are more than just simple incentives and policies to promote renewable energy and efficiency in the ACES Act. For a summary of this Bill, check out the summary that I posted last November. In this bill, there are policies that will support the deployment of renewable energy, enable a national smart grid system, provide incentives for small businesses to enter the market with limited risk, provide financing options for breakthrough technologies and domestic manufacturing of such technology, and establish an agency that will oversee and advance the goals set by the Bill.
All this needs to be explained to the American people in a civil and educated manner. Lets start a discussion so that we can tell our elected officials what matters most to their constituents.
Click here to read the full version of The American Clean Energy and Security Act
Click here to read the full verison of The Clean Energy Act
Tags: Bill, Clean, Congress, Energy, Graham, Renewable, Security, Waxman
Posted in Generation Binary | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act is a comprehensive climate and energy bill that will:
* Put America back to work
* Transition the U.S. to clean, affordable energy
* Make us safer as we lessen our dependence on foreign oil
* Help America regain the mantle of leadership as the international community negotiates a global climate treaty later this year
By making buildings and homes more efficient, ramping up renewable energy generation, constructing a unified national smart grid and reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, we can address our country’s economic and national security challenges — all while making huge strides to solve the climate crisis. ACES would create a wide range of programs to encourage these efforts.
Energy Efficiency
WHY: Energy efficiency will save consumers and businesses money.
ACES sets strong building code targets for energy efficiency — 30 percent by 2010 and 50 percent by 2016 for new buildings – and directs the EPA and Department of Energy to work with state and local governments to improve the efficiency of existing buildings through retrofits. Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption, 72 percent of U.S. electricity consumption and 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
ACES strengthens the efficiency standards for household appliances such as furnaces and TVs, including reward programs for best-in-class, high-performance models. By making homes and appliances more energy efficient, American families can save $450 a year on their utility bills. This is good news for families who have seen their household’s energy costs increase more than $1,000 between 2001 and 2007.
ACES’ increases in energy efficiency targets would also create millions of new construction jobs for retrofitting homes and buildings, and manufacturing jobs for those who will produce energy efficient products.
Renewable Energy
WHY: Increasing our supply of clean energy will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize energy prices.
ACES requires a national renewable energy standard (RES) that means by 2020, at least 12 percent of our electricity must come from clean, renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal. This is important because electricity generation is responsible for a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
ACES also will create a nationwide RES requirement for the first time in our nation’s history.
Renewable energy standards will create millions of new jobs — manufacturing jobs for those who will make component parts for wind turbines and solar panels and construction jobs for those who will build wind farms and install rooftop solar panels.
ACES also includes financial assistance for automobile manufacturers to retool their plants to make electric vehicles, breathing new life into the American auto industry.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Targets
WHY: The U.S. is responsible for 20 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main cause of the climate crisis. America should be the leader in climate change solutions.
ACES institutes a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, requiring the nation’s largest polluters reduce their CO2 emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, 42 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050. The 2020 pollution cuts would be equal to taking 500 million cars off the road.
Corporations have asked for deep emissions reductions — the Edison Electric Institute, which represents 70 percent of U.S. power producers and the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, whose members include BP, Shell, General Motors and Ford support emissions reductions targets that are nearly identical to the bill’s targets.
Transmission/Smart Grid
WHY: An electricity super highway will revolutionize the way America produces, stores, delivers and uses energy.
Power outages cost the U.S. between $119 and $188 billion each year. Improving and expanding our power grid will save Americans money while providing a more secure and reliable electricity system. And expanding our power grid will create millions of new jobs for engineers, electricians and others in the advanced technology arena.
Smart grid technologies like smart meters enables consumers to take responsibility for the power they use and when they use it — giving them the ability to cut the cost of their own energy bills.
This article was copied from:
http://www.repoweramerica.org/us/resources/aces/.
Please share your thoughts and comments on this explanation. Our goal now is to use this information to write informed letters
to Senator Lindsey Graham showing our support and sharing our ideas.
For more information about how you can support this effort please visit http://www.repoweramerica.org
We will follow the wild path to the places beyond our limited sight.
