Background Material - US Policy
US Actions on Climate Change and Energy
By: The Earth’s Best Defense (NRDC), Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Apr 2007
This paper summarises US actions in the field of climate and energy taking into account the rapid development of policy since the mid term election, in November 2006. It draws conclusions regarding efforts in relation to cap and trade, biofuels, renewable energy, voluntary initiatives, energy efficiency and nuclear energy. The structure of the report mimics that of the EU background paper (link) allowing easy comparison of efforts in both regions.
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President Bush Attends Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008
March 2008
When President Bush addressed delegates of more than 100 nations on March 4, he picked up the theme, saying. “The United States is committed, and we’re firm in our commitments, to deal with energy problem and to deal with global climate change,” he said, after enumerating renewable technologies being funded by the U.S. government and businesses. Besides federal funding, “There’s a lot of smart money heading into the private sector to help develop these new technologies,” Bush said. The president said he aims “to reduce our dependence on oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of clean and renewable energy and at the same time show the world we are good stewards of the environment.”
Read the Speech here
President Bush’s Remarks at the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change
by: U.S. Department of State
May 2007
On May 31, 2007 President Bush announced a new initiative to develop and contribute to a post-Kyoto framework on energy security and climate change by the end of 2008. This effort contributes to existing national, bilateral, regional and international programs to address the long-term challenge of global climate change and reinforces President Bush's firm commitment to taking action on climate change at home and abroad.
The first Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change was convened on September 27-28 in Washington D.C. The meeting was attended by senior representatives of seventeen Major Economies. The United Nations was also represented.
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“Americans Want Energy Action”
By: Energy Security Leadership Council
According to this poll, a vast majority of “Americans want energy action”. A summary of the results of this public-opinion poll from April 2007 can be viewed here:
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Towards a New Global Framework on Cutting Greenhouse Gases
Keynote Speech by Kurt Volker, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
at the Seminar "What Price Energy Transformation", Washington,January 24, 2008
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Ending the Energy Stalemate
By: National Commission on Energy Policy
Dez 2004
This report presents key findings from an intensive, three-year effort to develop consensus recommendations for future U.S. energy policy. Bringing together a diverse and bi-partisan group of leaders from business, government, academia, and the non-profit community, the National Commission on Energy Policy has sought to establish a constructive center in the often polarized debate about energy and to advance a coherent strategy for meeting the energy challenges of the 21st century that has the economic, environmental, and political integrity to overcome the current stalemate in national energy policy.
Short Summary
Full Report[pdf, 2.3 MB]
Annual Energy Outlook 2007 with Projections to 2030
By: Energy Information Agency (IEA)
Dec 2007
The Annual Energy Outlook 2007 presents a projection and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices through 2030. The projections are based on results from the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System. The AEO2007 includes the reference case, additional cases examining energy markets, and complete documentation.
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The US Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction
By: Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER)
2007
The range of climatic changes anticipated in the United States – from rising sea levels to stronger and more frequent storms and extreme temperature events – will have real impacts on the natural environment as well as human-made infrastructures and their ability to contribute to economic activity and quality of life. These impacts will vary across regions and sectors of the economy, leaving future governments, the private sector and citizens to face the full spectrum of direct and indirect costs accrued from increasing environmental damage and disruption.
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An Economic Strategy to Address Climate Change and Promote Energy Security
By: The Brookings Institution (A Hamilton Project Strategy Paper)
Oct 2007
This paper presents a three-part strategy for addressing climate change and promoting energy security. First, the government should price carbon and oil correctly so that the private sector has an incentive to reduce their use. Second, the government should increase and refocus public investments on basic research and on long-run speculative energy technologies. Finally, the United States should lead by example and engage major emitting nations in an international response to climate change.
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CNA Report on US National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
By: CNA Corporation
Apr 2007
Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security. It acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world and will add to tensions even in stable parts of the world. Climate change, national security, and energy dependency are related. Climate change should be fully integrated into [security & defense] strategies. The US should help stabilize warming to avoid global in security & instability and help developing nations build capacity & resilience to manage impacts. The US military should improve combat power through energy efficiency. It also should prepare for rising seal levels, extreme weather, & other impacts.
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More Fight - Less Fuel
Report of the Defense Science Board Taskforce on DoD Energy Strategy
By: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,Technology and Logistics, Department of Defense Energy Strategy
Feb 2008
On May 2, 2006 the Under Secretary of Defense for Aquisition, Technology and Logistics directed the Defense Science Board to create a task force to examine DoD energy strategy. Citing significant risks to both our nation and our military forces, he challenged the task force to find opportunities to reduce DoD’s energy demand, identify institutional obstacles to their implementation, and assess their potential commercial and security benefits to the nation. This paper summarizes the work of the task force.
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Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
By: The Brookings Institution
Aug 2007
The DOD is the largest single consumer of energy in the United States and energy is the key enabler of US military combat power. Huge energy consumption, increased competition for limited energy supplies, ever increasing energy costs, and no comprehensive Energy Strategy or oversight of energy issues in the DOD have created vulnerabilities. These include potential fuel and electricity supply disruptions as well as foreign policy and economic vulnerability.
The DOD needs a comprehensive Energy Strategy and organizational structure to implement a strategy to improve National Security by decreasing US dependence on foreign oil, ensure access to critical energy requirements, maintain or improve combat capability, promote research for future energy security, be fiscally responsible to the American tax payer, and protect the environment. This strategy can be implemented through leadership and culture change, innovation and process efficiencies, reduced demand, and increased/diversified energy sources.
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Impacts on U.S. Energy Expenditures of Increasing Renewable Energy Use
By: Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Program (EEED) ,RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE)
Nov 2006
In this study, RAND uses a computer simulation model to assess the possible impact that a 25-percent renewable energy requirement for electricity and motor vehicle transportation could have on total national energy expenditures and on emissions of carbon dioxide by the year 2025. Currently, 6 percent of America’s energy use comes from renewable sources, including hydropower. As renewable energy supplants nonrenewable energy, demand for those fuels declines, driving down the prices of fossil fuels in the model. This generates savings in total energy cost that balance the higher cost of the renewable energies required to be used under the assumptions in the analysis.
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Lower Emissions, Higher Costs?
Standard and Poor's‘ Special Report: The Credit Impact of Climate Change
By: David Bodek
May 2007
As the focus sharpens on the role that carbon emissions play in contributing to climate change, several U.S. states have opted to develop plans for curbing those emissions in advance of any federal legislation. This paper lists laws already implemented as well as plans and initiatives that are likely to be enacted soon.<br>
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Page 32
Which Power Generation Technologies Will Take the Lead in Response to Carbon Controls?
Standard and Poor's‘ Special Report: The Credit Impact of Climate Change
By: Swami Venkataraman and Ralph DeCesare
May 2007
The U.S. utility sector is in the midst of a large capital spending cycle to add capacity. It’s unclear what type of plants will be built in the face of impending new climate change policies, plus growing base load capacity needs. This paper wants to point out the main factors that determine investment decisions.
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Page 65
Energy in Transition, 1985-2010: Final Report of the Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems
By: Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems, National Research Council
Nov 2006
The energy problem now faced by the United States began to be recognized 10 years or more ago. Resolution of the problem demands a systematic examination of energy supply and demand in the context of existing policies, and articulation of a coherent set of policies for the transition to new sources of energy and new ways of using it. The essential difficulty is that these policies must be as consonant as possible with other, often conflicting, national objectives -- protecting the environment and public health and ensuring national security, economic growth, and equity among different regions and classes.
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Estimates of New Renewable Energy Capacity Serving U.S. Green Power Markets
By: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Sep 2005
This article provides estimates of renewable energy capacity that is being supported through green power markets in the United States. As of the end of 2004, more than 2,200 megawatts (MW) of new renewables capacity was being used to supply green power customers, with another 455 MW either under construction or formally announced.
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The Fuel Choice and Technological Change Effects of the Tradable Sulphur Permit Scheme on the US Electricity Generating Industry
By: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
2006
This paper uses monthly firm level data to characterise fuel choice and technical change in the US electricity generating industry in response to the tradable sulphur allowance program. Data covering the years 1990 2004 in a flexible translog cost function are used to determine the Allen Uzawa and Morishima elasticities of substitution for the three main fossil fuel inputs (coal, oil and natural gas) and the rate and direction of technical change.
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The Costs of US Oil Dependency - Risk of Oil Supply Disruptions
By: Resources for the Future (RFF)
Nov 2004
Energy security may broadly be described as a state of affairs characterised by conditions and policies that safeguard the health of the US economy against circumstances threatening significant short- or long-term increases in energy costs. As described in the paper, it is a concept with many dimensions, only one of which is the problem of dependence on a world oil market characterised by substantial price volatility and exercise of market power.
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Oil Shockwave – An Oil Crisis Executive Simulation
By: Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) and the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP)
June 2005
In June 23, 2005, a group of nine former White House cabinet and senior national security officials convened to participate in a simulated working group of a White House cabinet. Their task: to advise an American president as the nation grapples with an oil crisis over a seven-month period. As they enter the room, they are unaware of the circumstances or nature of the oil crisis.
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Can the United States Shed its Oil Addiction?
By: Center for Strategic and International Studies
2007
In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush highlighted what he called “a serious problem,” namely the United States’ addiction to oil, “which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” Despite that statement, not much political capital has been spent on solving the problem. The pessimistic conventional wisdom in the United States is that the “prospects for serious energy security reform will remain weak, unless there is a serious shock of the international system.
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Recommendations to the Nation on Reducing U.S. Oil Dependence
By: Energy Security Leadership Council
Dec 2006
This document outlines a comprehensive plan to reduce oil dependence. Within this framework, Primary Policy Recommendations are accompanied by Corollary Policy Recommendations of smaller but by no means inconsequential benefit. For purposes of comparison, point-in-time estimates for potential efficiency improvements and increased production figures refer to the year 2030, unless otherwise noted.
Members of the Energy Security Leadership Council, a SAFE project, address the President, the Congress, and the American people with specific recommendations for reducing U.S. oil dependence and improving energy security.
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Summary of the Economic Impacts of Implementing "Recommendations to the Nation on Reducing U.S. Oil Dependence"
By: The Interindustry Forecasting Project at the University of Maryland, Keybridge Research LLC
Commissioned by the Energy Security Leadership Council and independently conducted by the Interindustry Forecasting Project at the University of Maryland (Inforum) and Keybridge Research LLC, this study estimates the long-term economic effects of the Council’s proposed policies for reducing the oil dependence of the U.S. economy. This study relies upon comprehensive simulation analysis employing the highly respected Inforum LIFT model, an interindustry macroeconomectric model of the U.S. economy.
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