Two things came to an end yesterday:
+ The bewildering Britney Spears – K-Fed coupling;and
+ Republican control of the U.S. Congress
We at NNEC are practically giddy anticipating the end of Kevin Federline’s agonizing 15 minutes of fame.
On the other front, we can’t help but wonder…
What will happen to U.S. energy policy now that the election is over?
Democrats still face a hostile Administration (with majorities too slim to overcome a veto). So, expect federal energy policy to stall as both parties prepare to fight for the White House in 2008.
The only progressive energy policy in 2007 will have to come from the states.
What are states likely to do?
Tucked into the 2005 Energy Bill was a little paragraph that could have big impacts on energy policy. In Section 1251, Congress mandated that by 2007 every state consider implementing or expanding programs that allow homeowners and small business to generate their own electricity and sell it back to the central transmission grid.
These programs (known as “net metering”) have been described as “providing the most significant boost of any policy tool at any level of government…to ‘green’ American energy sources.”
Every small business can become a clean power plant for the community. Every home can declare its independence from the electric company!
And by the end of the year, every state has to consider these programs.
On November 16th, at the National Press Club, the Network for New Energy Choices (NNEC) and Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy & the Environment will release…
Freeing the Grid:
How Effective State Net Metering Laws Can Revolutionize U.S. Energy Policy
(click the link above for an embargoed copy of the full report)
Watch this space for more information – November 16th
