Chris Cooper
Roadmap uses Market-Based Approach to Reach 20% Renewable by 2020
[New York, NY] – In an article just published in Electricity Journal, NNEC Executive Director Chris Cooper and Dr. Benjamin Sovacool of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory unveiled a bold strategy for meeting 20 percent of U.S. electricity demand with clean, renewable energy by the year 2020. The peer-reviewed article presents a novel way of implementing a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that uses market-based strategies to persuade utilities to increase efficiency, diversify U.S. energy supplies, and help customers generate their own electricity to sell back to the central transmission grid.
Get the full article: “Green Means ‘Go?’: A Colorful Approach to a U.S. National Renewable Portfolio Standard”
“Twenty percent renewables by 2020 is entirely possible, if we use common-sense, market-based principles to get there,” said NNEC Executive Director Chris Cooper. “Our plan is a smart idea for expanding renewable energy in the United States in a way that benefits regulated utilities, homeowners and policymakers.”
The NNEC plan is unique in three ways:
A Renewable Energy Goal Based on Demand
The NNEC plan does not mandate a specific amount of renewable energy. Instead, it sets the RPS goal as 20% of electricity demand. By making the mandated level a function of demand, the NNEC plan creates incentives for utilities to pursue demand-reduction strategies (like energy efficiency programs and improved load management) and gives regulated utilities greater flexibility to meet the goal.
National Net Metering Standards
The NNEC plan sets national standards for home and business owners that want to generate their own electricity and sell the excess back to the central transmission grid. Thirty-six states have established “net metering” programs, creating a patchwork of regulations and a sea of red-tape for citizens who want to generate their own electricity.
A National Market for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)
Renewable Energy Credits (also called “Green Tags”) put a monetary value on the environmental benefits of renewable energy. Several states have banded together to create regional markets for RECs that are sold to utilities as credit toward their renewable energy goals. The NNEC plan creates a national market that pegs the value of RECs to the retail price of electricity, creating a market-incentive for regulated utilities to decrease the cost of renewable electricity for consumers.
Get the full article: “Green Means ‘Go?’: A Colorful Approach to a U.S. National Renewable Portfolio Standard”
By diversifying energy production and increasing transmission efficiency, Cooper and Sovacool predict that the NNEC plan could:
Decrease retail electricity prices by 13 to 17 percent.
Save consumers more than $580 million.
Save utilities as much as $74 billion.
Decrease the probability of a major blackout in the next 20 years from nearly 100% to about 1%.
Make the U.S. transmission grid safer from terrorist attacks.
“A national renewable portfolio standard is like sex…or pizza,” noted Cooper. “It doesn’t have to be perfect to still be pretty good.”
“Republicans and Democrats have called for a national RPS. The only debate has been over how to do it. Our plan gets around many of the issues that have thwarted previous proposals. We need to stop talking and start acting on this common-sense approach to energy independence,” he said.
Get the full article: “Green Means ‘Go?’: A Colorful Approach to a U.S. National Renewable Portfolio Standard”
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