EERE: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Targets, Clean Energy in India, and Great Lakes Wind Power

A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The EERE Network News is also available on the Web at: www.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm December 02, 2009 News and Events President Obama Sets a Target for Cutting U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions United States and India to Cooperate on Clean Energy Technologies New York Seeks Proposals for Offshore Wind Power in the Great Lakes NREL Report Relates State Policies to Renewable Energy Development Affordable Green Housing Gets Boost from Billion-Dollar Funds California Approves New Energy Efficiency Standards for Televisions Energy Connections New Reports Catalogue the Worsening Impacts of Climate Change

News and Events President Obama Sets a Target for Cutting U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions The White House announced on November 25 that President Obama is offering a U.S. target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the range of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. The proposed target agrees with the limit set by climate legislation that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but the U.S. Senate is currently considering a bill that cuts GHG emissions to 20% below 2005 levels by 2020. The White House noted that the final U.S. emissions target will ultimately fall in line with the climate legislation, once that legislation passes both houses of Congress and is approved by the President. In light of the President's goal for an 83% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050, the pending legislation also includes a reduction in GHG emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2025 and to 42% below 2005 levels by 2030. The White House also announced that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on December 9 to participate in the United Nations climate change conference. A number of top White House officials and cabinet members will also attend the conference, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu. For the first time, the U.S. delegation will establish a U.S. Center at the conference, providing a unique and interactive forum to share the United States' story with the world. The center will feature keynote speeches by top U.S. officials from December 9 through December 17, including a December 14 speech by Secretary Chu on U.S. leadership in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The U.S. Department of State has also established the "COP-15" Web site and a Facebook page to mark the event. The U.N. climate change conference is officially known as the 15th annual session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP-15 for short. See the White House press release and the State Department's press release, COP-15 Web site, and COP-15 Facebook Page. The day after the White House announced the U.S. GHG targets, China announced that it will reduce the intensity of its carbon dioxide emissions by 40%-45% by 2020. Carbon dioxide emissions intensity is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP). China expects its GDP to at least double by 2020, which could potentially result in a doubling of carbon dioxide emissions, but the new target should hold the increase in carbon dioxide emissions to 20% or less. The carbon intensity target will be a binding goal that China will incorporate into its medium- and long-term development plans. China also announced plans to invest in the research, development, and commercialization of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, as well as other low-carbon energy technologies. The country plans to draw on non-fossil-fuel energy sources for 15% of its energy needs by 2020 and will encourage low-carbon lifestyles and consumption. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen. See the announcement on the Chinese Government's official Web portal. United States and India to Cooperate on Clean Energy Technologies President Obama meets with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Oval Office of the White House. Credit: Pete Souza, White House President Barack Obama and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on November 24 for their nations to work together to speed up the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Noting that energy security, food security, and climate change are interlinked, the leaders entered into a Green Partnership to meet these global challenges. Both leaders also affirmed that the outcome of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen must be comprehensive. Under the new MOU, the two nations will launch a Clean Energy and Climate Change Initiative, with the goal of improving technologies to make clean energy more affordable and efficient. The initiative will include cooperation in wind and solar energy, second-generation biofuels, and energy efficiency, as well as unconventional sources of natural gas and clean coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage. The two nations will also mobilize public and private resources to invest in clean energy projects in India. Further, the two nations began an Indo-U.S. Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative, supported by government and private-sector funds. The initiative will leverage expertise from both countries and may cover such topics as energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, second-generation biofuels, battery technology, the Smart Grid, solar energy, wind energy, and micro-hydropower. It will also include a Joint Research Center operating in both countries to accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies. The United States and India also signed MOUs on solar and wind energy. Under the solar MOU, DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) will partner with India's Solar Energy Centre to create a comprehensive nationwide map of the solar potential in India. Also, more than two dozen U.S. and Indian cities will team up to jointly boost solar energy development. The wind MOU, between NREL and India's Centre for Wind Energy Technology, will focus on developing a low-speed wind turbine. See the White House press release and the Green Partnership Fact Sheet (PDF 81 KB). Download Adobe Reader. New York Seeks Proposals for Offshore Wind Power in the Great Lakes The New York Power Authority (NYPA) released a request for proposals (RFP) on Tuesday for the development of offshore wind power projects in the New York State waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The wind power project would not only be the first in the Great Lakes, but the first wind power development of any kind in a freshwater body in the United States. The Power Authority is soliciting proposals for the development of a utility-scale wind power project in the range of 120-500 megawatts, with a target date of 2015 for commercial operation. Proposals are due on June 1, 2010, and the NYPA plans to select a winning project by December 2010. Although the United States is a wind power leader, it does not yet have an offshore wind plant such as this one, which is located off the coast of Arklow, Ireland. Credit: GE Energy, ©2004, General Electric Company Under the terms of the RFP, projects must interconnect with new or existing transmission facilities of the appropriate regional electric utilities, which are all controlled by the New York Independent System Operator. The NYPA will purchase the full output of the project under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement. NYPA has begun commissioning studies for the RFP, including conducting preliminary wind resource, site screening, and environmental studies to investigate potentially feasible locations for project sites as shown in the RFP. See the NYPA press release, the RFP, and the NYPA Web page for the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Project. In another effort to harness offshore wind resources, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware announced on November 11 a tri-state partnership for the deployment of offshore wind energy in the Mid-Atlantic coastal region. Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine, Delaware Governor Jack Markell, and Maryland Governor Martin O. Malley signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating a formal partnership that will build on the region's offshore wind resources to generate renewable energy while creating a sustainable market that will bring new economic opportunities. Through the MOU, the Mid-Atlantic states will focus on leveraging their resources and pooling their information to bring offshore wind energy to the region. The group will begin by identifying common transmission strategies for offshore wind energy deployment in the region, discussing ways to encourage sustainable market demand for this renewable resource, and working collaboratively in pursuing federal energy policies that will help to advance offshore wind in the area. See Governor Kaine's press release. NREL Report Relates State Policies to Renewable Energy Development DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently issued a report showing that clean energy development is spreading rapidly throughout the country, often following public policies designed to spur renewable energy growth. According to the report, "State of the States 2009: Renewable Energy Development and the Role of Policy," California led the nation in terms of total non-hydroelectric renewable generation in 2007, while Maine generated the largest percentage of electricity from renewable resources other than hydropower, at 26.1%. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), a policy that requires utilities to draw a percentage of their power from renewable energy sources. All but a dozen states have implemented policies for connecting renewable energy systems to the power grid, known as interconnection, while all but eight allow customers to earn credit for power fed back into the grid, a policy called net metering. The NREL report also went beyond simply tabulating data by examining the impact of renewable energy policies using statistical and empirical methods. That analysis found that states that had a net-metering policy in place in 2005 had more generation from non-hydropower renewable energy sources in 2007 than states that did not. States that required utilities to tell their customers the energy sources used to produce their electricity and that also required utilities to offer "green power"—electricity produced from renewable energy sources—ended up with more renewable energy development. The report also found several features of RPS policies that significantly contributed to increased renewable energy development, but it failed to find a perfect combination of features for an RPS policy that correlated with significant increases in renewable energy. See the report (PDF 4.2 MB). Download Adobe Reader. Affordable Green Housing Gets Boost from Billion-Dollar Funds Two nonprofit organizations recently launched billion-dollar programs to boost affordable green housing. Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., a national nonprofit focusing on community development and affordable housing, announced on October 8 a $4 billion commitment to the next generation of its Green Communities initiative. Enterprise said its efforts will result directly in the creation, preservation, or retrofit of 75,000 green homes and community and commercial buildings over the next five years. The group will provide loans to owners of existing multifamily buildings in key markets for capital purchases that will reduce energy and water consumption or will lead to more healthy living environments. Enterprise relies on support from a number of banks and foundations, and it is currently drawing on $2.5 million in grants for fundraising. Enterprise also issued a national call to action to make all affordable housing in the United States meet green criteria by 2020. To provide background, the organization released a study proving the overall return on investment of meeting its Green Communities Criteria. Based on years of research, the report, "Incremental Cost, Measurable Savings: Enterprise," finds that the estimated lifetime savings exceed the initial investment made to incorporate the Green Communities Criteria into affordable housing during construction. See the Enterprise press release (PDF 68 KB), the report, and the Web site for Enterprise Green Communities. Download Adobe Reader. A more local effort was launched on September 30, as the New York-based Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a nonprofit affordable housing lender, announced a new public-private partnership to provide $1 billion in construction and mortgage loans for energy-efficient upgrades and property retrofits. The loans will go to owners of affordable multifamily rental units and coops in New York State. CPC said it would identify needed energy efficiency improvements for each building through an energy audit. The goal is to increase fuel and electrical efficiency of existing apartment buildings by 20% or more, with the financing of retrofits for up to 15,000 apartments over the next few years. CPC is drawing on funds from Freddie Mack, New York State and New York City public employee pension funds, private lenders, and other lending institutions. See the CPC press release and the CPC Web page for the Green Financing Initiative. California Approves New Energy Efficiency Standards for Televisions The California Energy Commission (CEC) approved the nation's first energy efficiency standards for televisions on November 18. When these standards take effect in 2011, new televisions sold in California will be the most energy efficient in the nation. After ten years, the CEC estimates the regulations will save $8.1 billion in energy costs, while avoiding enough energy use to power 864,000 single-family homes. The Pacific Gas & Electric Company estimates that over the course of a decade, the standards will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by three million metric tons. In a typical California home, televisions and related accessories currently account for about 10% of the electricity consumption. The technology-neutral standards mandate that new televisions sold in California should consume 33% less electricity by 2011 and 49% less electricity by 2013. The standards affect only those televisions with a screen size of 58 inches or smaller. For example, a 42-inch screen would consume 183 watts or less by 2011 and 115 watts or less by 2013. The CEC noted that more than 1,000 TV models on the market today already meet the 2011 standards and cost no more than less efficient sets. The regulations will not affect existing televisions that consumers already own or the televisions currently on retail store shelves. Stores will not be prohibited from selling their existing stock of older televisions after the standards go into effect. See the CEC press release and the television efficiency regulations.

Energy Connections New Reports Catalogue the Worsening Impacts of Climate Change Two recent compendiums of climate change science compiled by leading climate scientists show that the impacts of climate change are happening sooner and at a greater magnitude than previously thought. The two reports are the latest attempts to update the climate science since the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Fourth Assessment Report, which was released in 2007. The first new report, released in late September by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is titled "Climate Change Science Compendium 2009," while the second, released in late November by 26 climate researchers, is called "The Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009: Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science." Both are based on published, peer-reviewed climate science. Both reports reach the same conclusions, namely, that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise at an increasing rate; that Arctic sea ice has melted far beyond the expectations of climate models; and that global sea-level rise may well exceed 1 meter by 2100, with an upper limit of 2 meters now considered to be the upper range for sea-level rise by 2100. Both reports also note that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels were 40% higher in 2008 than they were in 1990. The increasing emissions are causing the window in which to reduce emissions to narrow. According to the reports, if emissions are maintained at today's levels for the next 20 years, the possibility of limiting global warming to less than 2°C will disappear. Climate scientists generally concur that a global temperature rise of 2°C or more will lead to disastrous consequences. The comprehensive UNEP report also warns of ocean acidification, melting mountain glaciers, and the possibility that "tipping points" in the climate could soon be reached. See the Copenhagen Diagnosis press release, which links to the full report, the UNEP press release, and the UNEP report, which was updated in late October. Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are continuing to increase. The WMO's "Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2008," released in late November, finds that the "radiative forcing," or greenhouse effect, caused by all long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 1.3% from 2007 to 2008, and has increased by 26% since 1990. The globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in 2008 was 385.2 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 2 ppm from 2007, while methane increased to 1,797 parts per billion (ppb), an increase of 7 ppb above 2007 levels. After staying stable from 1999 to 2006, methane concentrations showed significant increases in both 2007 and 2008. Nitrous oxide and refrigerants are also on the rise. The report is troubling in light of the "Carbon Budget 2008," a report released in mid-November by the Global Carbon Project, which found that carbon emissions are now overwhelming the natural "sinks" that absorb carbon, such as the ocean. See the WMO press release and report and the Carbon Budget 2008.

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