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Executive Summary
As the new home of MASSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Massachusetts can be contacted regarding this report. At the dawn of the 21st century, America faces immense energy challenges, and enjoys boundless opportunities.
The
current crisis in our energy system is the result of decades of bad
decisions: the decision to unleash an unconstrained boom in natural
gas-fired power plant construction during the 1990s that has since
contributed to price spikes throughout the economy; the decision to
allow aging coal-fired power plants to continue to operate under
outdated emission standards; the decision to subsidize fossil and
nuclear fuels at the expense of renewable power and energy efficiency.
The
effects of these bad decisions are now apparent. Natural gas prices
have doubled in recent years, squeezing the pocketbooks of consumers
and the profit margins of industry; both of whom have become
increasingly dependent on natural gas for heat, hot water and
industrial purposes. Old coal-fired power plants continue to spew
pollution that threatens public health, while a new generation of coal
fired plants has been proposed that would add to America’s already
substantial contribution to global warming. The nuclear power plants
built in the 1960s and 1970s are coming to the end of their original
lifespans, but many are receiving a new lease on life from federal
officials, presenting a continuing threat to public health and safety.
Environmentally,
our bad energy decisions have made the United States the world’s
leading contributor to global warming, threatening the health and
welfare of future generations, the ecosystems on which life depends,
and America’s standing in the global community. Economically, our
decisions have left the United States — historically a world leader in
technological innovation — well behind Europe and Japan in the
development and deployment of the energy technologies of the 21st
century and have tied our continued prosperity to fluctuations in
fossil energy prices over which we have little control.
Should
we remain on our present course, the energy challenges facing the
United States will only grow in magnitude. The depletion of fossil
energy reserves, increased demand for energy, aging domestic energy
infrastructure, and the acceleration of global warming will continue to
pose problems both for our immediate welfare and our nation’s long-term
economic and environmental sustainability.
To
properly address these challenges, America must transform how it
produces and consumes energy. We must do it. And we can. Renewable
forms of energy such as wind and solar power are increasingly
cost-competitive with traditional forms of energy; indeed wind power is
a least-cost option for new power generation in some parts of the
country. And new renewable technologies that sustainably tap the
natural energy of the earth, water, wind and crops are on the horizon.
America
also has vast “strategic reserves” of energy efficiency — a resource
that could cost-effectively reduce, or even eliminate, the growth in
demand for energy for the foreseeable future, and do so with a net
benefit to the economy. New technologies promise to make our homes and
businesses more energy efficient than ever before, providing immediate
savings to consumers, reducing energy demand at peak periods, and
lowering prices for everyone.
Despite
the emerging promise of a new, clean energy future, there has been
little momentum toward that goal at the federal level. President Bush
and many in Congress remain wedded to a future energy vision built
around the dirty, dangerous and unstable energy sources of the past at
the expense of the reliable, sustainable and clean sources of the
future. Congressional efforts to increase energy efficiency and deal
with the worst by-products of our overreliance on fossil fuels — such
as global warming emissions — have gone nowhere.
America
is at a critical point. Continuing to delay a transition to cleaner
energy sources will leave the United States even further behind other
nations in the development of renewable energy, even more wedded to
energy sources that are unsustainable in the long run, and facing an
even greater uphill battle in the effort to control global warming
emissions.
It
is in this atmosphere of challenge, opportunity and political stalemate
that state governments have stepped in to take leadership. Across the
nation, states have developed innovative tools to encourage a shift to
a clean energy strategy. Renewable energy standards for electricity
generation; dedicated, ratepayer-supported energy efficiency and
renewable energy funds; tighter appliance efficiency standards; and
stronger residential and commercial building codes are just a few of
those tools.
The
momentum for state action on energy has only increased over the past
five years. A coordinated, multi-state effort to promote clean energy
policy can ensure that that momentum continues — and, in the process,
create the conditions for renewed initiative at the federal level.
Such
an effort, however, must proceed from a set of shared assumptions,
values and approaches. This document sketches out the basics of such a
program — highlighting the major energy-related problems facing the
United States, suggesting technologies and policy approaches that
should be prioritized, and assessing how these approaches would impact
America’s energy future.
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