Details of $36 Billion Bipartisan US Energy Plan
Date: 09-Dec-04
Country: USA
The commission said it based its recommendations on cost-effectiveness, consumer impacts, flexibility for adjustment when conditions change, ease of implementation, and political viability. The package would cost about $36 billion over 10 years, an amount that could be raised from selling emission allowances for greenhouse gases.
Key recommendations to Congress included:
* Spend $3 billion over 10 years in incentives for auto makers and consumers for efficient hybrid-electric and advanced diesel vehicles.
* Create mandatory program of tradable permits to limit greenhouse gas emissions while capping initial costs at $7 per metric tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent reduction.
* Expand energy efficiency standards for new appliances, equipment and buildings.
* Encourage the construction of liquefied natural gas import facilities.
* Adopt incentives for construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline.
* Spend $2 billion over 10 years to build one or two new advanced nuclear power facilities for demonstration purposes.
* Expand global network of strategic petroleum reserves and diversify world oil production.
* Spend $4 billion over 10 years in incentives for coal gasification technology and to capture and sequester carbon emissions.
* Spend $3 billion over 10 years to demonstrate commercial-scale carbon capture and geologic sequestration at a variety of sites.
* Increase federal funding for renewable electricity technologies by $360 million annually.
* Extend through 2009 the federal tax credit for electricity produced from non-carbon energy sources such as wind.
* Clarify rules for cost-recovery to encourage more investment in electric transmission lines and improve reliability.
* Spend $1.5 billion over 10 years to increase production of non-petroleum renewable fuels for transportation.
The complete report was to be published on the commission's Web site at http://www.energycommission.org
