March 10, 2008

Energy policy isn't just consuming U.S. lawmakers. It's also dominating the Canadian agenda as well and particularly the province of Ontario.

The current government there recently unveiled its long-term supply roadmap that plans to double the amount of renewable energy by 2025 and refurbish or replace the province's base-load nuclear capacity. But it also expects to phase-out the use of coal-fired generation by 2014 -- a strategy that had to be put off for seven years.

March 7, 2008

State policies are the force behind the surge in green energy use. But if those efforts are to be optimized they must be complemented with the appropriate federal research, tax and regulatory policies.

About 26 states have enacted renewable portfolio standards that require utilities to offer a certain percentage of green energy within a specific time period. But they face a number of issues ranging from transmission constraints to inconsistent permitting standards among the jurisdictions. The Pew Center says that federal leadership is a must, particularly when it comes to funding research and development and creating national standards for grid interconnection.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan is losing jobs every day that it fails to pass a law requiring that some of the state's electricity come from wind and renewable sources, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday.
"We need to get this done and get it done now," the Democratic governor told reporters. "The urgency of this cannot be overstated."

Granholm wants the Legislature to pass bills in March requiring that 10 percent of electricity be from renewable resources by the end of 2015. She said at least two dozen states have such a standard and are attracting the jobs Michigan needs.

"This ought to be through both (the House and Senate) in March. If it's not, something is wrong," she said.

The governor stressed she is encouraged by the Legislature's work on the issue. But she also warned that a major multinational wind manufacturer that may bring up to five plants to Michigan to build turbine components could look elsewhere if the renewable energy portfolio, or RPS, is not passed.

Monday, February 25, 2008

OTTAWA - The average Canadian would see a 50 per cent income tax cut if the federal government phased in a new tax to crack down on activities that produce the pollution linked to global warming, a new report said Monday.

"There is a lingering misconception that a carbon price is nothing more than a tax grab," said the report, Pricing Carbon: Saving Green - a carbon price to lower emissions, taxes and barriers to green technology.