{"id":1472,"date":"2011-08-05T16:35:15","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2015-12-21T12:46:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T18:46:26","slug":"is-government-getting-out-of-the-clean-energy-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2011\/08\/05\/is-government-getting-out-of-the-clean-energy-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Government Getting Out Of The Clean Energy Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

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Source: Front Page Magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday\u2019s debt deal makes one thing clear:\u00a0 whatever it is that you may want government to spend money on, there will likely be less money to go around in the future.\u00a0 That said, I think it\u2019s time to rethink government\u2019s role in the clean energy marketplace.\u00a0 Whether or not it has money to spend, governments at all levels\u00a0can do a lot to build a robust American market for clean energy.\u00a0 Here are some suggested ways forward:<\/p>\n

First, engage the private sector.\u00a0 Our government is highly skilled and effective when it comes to enabling clean energy research, which in turn leads to high-risk investments in emerging clean technologies, but it cannot pay for everything.\u00a0 This is not the era of the New Deal, and we\u2019re not China.\u00a0 We are, however, a nation of innovators with the ability to mobilize private capital second to none.\u00a0 So let\u2019s get innovators, entrepreneurs and regulators in a room together and begin to work on projects that establish what economists have been telling us for years:\u00a0 clean energy and efficiency\u00a0will make and save money.\u00a0 In some places, government can be a convener \u2013 for example, cities across the country (and the world) could work with their real estate and banking communities to aggregate efficiency upgrades at a scale large enough to attract major investment from institutional investors and other sources of capital.\u00a0 Government could basically be a source of data and the initial step in drawing parties together to help broker deals<\/p>\n

Second, lead by example and cut waste.\u00a0 From energy needed to fuel our troops on the front lines to the air conditioning used for government officials in Washington and state and local capitols \u2013 there\u2019s a huge amount of money to be saved and strategic advantage to be won by running our government\u2019s own energy use more effectively.\u00a0 In fact, EDF\u2019s Climate Corps Public Sector<\/a> is currently engaging in this type of exercise in its efforts to reduce the New York City Housing Authority\u2019s (NYCHA) energy use by more than 45 percent. \u00a0These types of energy efficiency efforts should appeal to all sides of the political aisle:\u00a0 government will do more with less; we\u2019ll send less money overseas for imported oil; we\u2019ll pioneer new technologies through smart energy applications; and Americans will be put to work upgrading government buildings with less wasteful technology.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a role for money here, it\u2019s to finance upfront costs that get replenished out of energy savings \u2013 possibly a mix of\u00a0private and public capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, open the energy marketplace to truly fair competition.\u00a0 America\u2019s utilities are governed by an arcane mix of rules that get in the way of innovation and tend to favor traditional fossil fuels.\u00a0 Our grid is a long way from a smart grid.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even get me started on subsidies for oil and coal companies.\u00a0 Rules that shape the energy market and grid are set at the federal, regional and state levels.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for a national effort to make it easier for households and businesses to use renewable sources of energy like solar and wind, as well as enable drivers to plug in their electric cars.\u00a0 Homes and businesses should be able to sell extra solar electricity into the grid easily and without limit.\u00a0\u00a0There should be a simple way to aggregate the benefits of efficiency; for example, consumers should be able to sell saved energy to compete with new power plants and this cleaner energy should be valued by regulators on par with new supply.\u00a0 Consumers should be able to charge electric cars at off-peak times, which could end up costing as little as about three cents a mile to operate.\u00a0 We can have all this \u2013 if we get the rules right at Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) across the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The role of government would change.\u00a0 It would become a source of data, culled from public sources like demographics and building department filings.\u00a0 It would help ensure that information is disclosed, like the SEC requires disclosure of information to investors on the stock market.\u00a0 It would change the rules to remove barriers to clean-energy investment inherent in our current electric grids and markets.\u00a0 It would use its bully pulpit not to harangue, but to create the negotiating table around which unlikely partners come together.\u00a0 It would enforce rules clearly and consistently to protect health and environment.\u00a0It would use its own buildings, agencies, vehicles and supply chain to test and develop technologies \u2013 to be out front and demonstrate what works.\u00a0 And where possible, it could be a source of grants or loans, but that role would be overshadowed by the value of the vibrant private energy market that it would support by doing all of these\u00a0other described duties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the government commits to moving ahead in this way, America will leap ahead in the clean energy sector \u2013 and we\u2019ll be moving so fast that its citizens will barely have time to lament the relatively smaller amount of government spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday\u2019s debt deal makes one thing clear:\u00a0 whatever it is that you may want government to spend money on, there will likely be less money to go around in the future.\u00a0 That said, I think it\u2019s time to rethink government\u2019s role in the clean energy marketplace.\u00a0 Whether or not it has money to spend, governments …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,84830,177,324],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-efficiency","category-grid-modernization","category-renewable-energy","category-washington-dc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Government Getting Out Of The Clean Energy Business? - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2011\/08\/05\/is-government-getting-out-of-the-clean-energy-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Government Getting Out Of The Clean Energy Business? 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