Memo to President-elect Barack Obama on Democratizing the Energy System
ILSR's recommendations to President-elect Obama on making decentralized energy a focus of Obama's intention to make "a new energy economy" a "No. 1 priority." We urge him follow a path that leads not only to changes in the fuels underpinning our energy system but also to changes in the structure and dynamic of that system. The key distinguishing characteristic of renewable energy, its virtually universal availability, offers Obama and the country an unprecedented opportunity to decentralize and democratize our energy system.
A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) suggests that at least half of the fifty states could achieve energy self-sufficiency with the help of locally-focused federal energy policy. The findings should inform the energy policy of President-elect Barack Obama.
The next 20 years could generate as much as $1 trillion in new renewable energy investment in rural America. This new Ford Foundation-sponsored study by John Farrell and David Morris provides a policy roadmap for states and the federal government that would encourage modest-sized renewable energy facilities and local ownership. 
ILSR vice president, David Morris, responds to Al Gore's recent speech proposing a 10 year effort to move the United States to a 100% renewable energy electric system to address three major crises: the weak economy, catastrophic climate change and the dire national security problems inherent in our dependence on imported oil. Morris says that Gore got got two out of three right. A crash renewable electricity initiative would provide an immediate boost to our economy and could slow climate change, but it would do little to enhance our national security. Gore misses the key element of moving our transportation system to electricity. 
Updating a pathbreaking 2003 report, ILSR's March 2008 report, 
A new policy brief from Institute for Local Self Reliance criticizes the authors of two recent studies published in Science for advancing a conclusion not supported by their own studies. ILSR's paper notes that the vast majority of today’s ethanol production comes from corn cultivated on land that has been in corn production for generations. Since little new land has come into production, either directly or indirectly, the current use of ethanol clearly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
A new policy brief from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance concludes that universal dividends are a critically important tool to create the political will and public acceptance for a carbon cap. Universal dividends have the potential to hold harmless a large segment of consumers while we move to a low-carbon economy. Moreover, the universal dividend honors the principle that the sky belongs to all of us equally. Private investment in clean and efficient technologies will be driven by a carbon cap that leads to steady reductions over time of GHG emissions and carbon-based fuels.
A new kind of hybrid uses less gas and more electricity. All-electric cars are already here. What will this mean for the road trip of the future? ILSR's David Morris plugs in and gives us a little history lesson of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV).
Congress and most state legislatures have or are developing renewable energy policies with a single objective: get more renewables. Our new study, Wind and Ethanol: Economies and Diseconomies of Scale, finds that this single minded focus ignores the potential economic benefits from locally owned and more modestly scaled facilities. The focus should on better renewable energy projects not simply more.
In Nebraska, cows are helping to produce ethanol. A 28,000-cow feedlot in Mead, Nebraska, is powering the neighboring Genesis Ethanol Plant, owned by E3 Biofuels LLC. The cows are providing 300,000 tons of manure per year, which is turned into methane via anaerobic digestion and accounts for 100% of the thermal energy needed to distill 25 million gallons of ethanol each year. 
This column by David Morris and Peter Barnes argues for a three pronged strategy on climate protection. First, a comprehensive emission cap. Second, a carbon auction for suppliers of carbon fuels. And lastly, a universal and equal distribution of revenues from that sale. Three keys to an effective and equitable strategy to reduce global warming. 
In late April 2007, a new policy was put in place in Massachusetts that requires certain developers to "quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by proposed projects and identify measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate such emissions" The policy applies to developments requiring an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that need an air quality permit, receive state funding or generate a significant number of new vehicle trips. 
London Mayor Ken Livingstone wants to further reduce the City’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by making motorists take financial responsibility for their own emissions. The first approach set to begin in February 2008 is the establishment of a Low Emissions Zone. The second approach still under debate would modify the current congestion fee by establishing an Emissions Influenced Charging Structure. 
On May 7th, Washington's Governor signed a new law that effectively reverses a January 2007 Washington Supreme Court decision. The State Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Seattle municipal utility could not purchase carbon offsets with ratepayer money. This case originated from ratepayers that were protesting Seattle City Light's purchases of carbon offsets to counter the utility's greenhouse gas emissions. 
In mid-May, Los Angeles' Mayor announced a new climate change action plan that calls for the LA municipal utility to increase its renewable energy portfolio to reach 35 percent by 2020. This in combination with about 50 other proposed actions will work to reduce GHG emissions in the city of angels to 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. 
As of today, 111 college Presidents have signed on to an initiative, The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, that commits their campuses to become carbon neutral. Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) initiated the campaign to leverage the unique responsibility and leadership that institutions of higher education can have in addressing global warming at the local level.
This year offers a rare historical opportunity for our nation to marry energy and agricultural policy objectives. The new 110th Congress will be revisiting the 2005 energy bill and reauthorizing the 2002 farm bill, giving congressional leaders the chance to link increased rural prosperity and energy security. Two reports released today will be useful guides.
A recent column by David Morris published on Alternet provides a review of George Monbiot's new book Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. The book picks up where Al Gore left off on global warming, offering real solutions without sugar-coating the large personal sacrifices they will require.
Biofuels won't single-handedly solve the climate crisis, nor will they deliver energy independence. But a base of widely dispersed, farmer- and citizen-owned biofuel plants can displace significant amounts of fossil fuels -- while also building local economies. ILSR's recent column in Grist Magazine outlines a federal energy and agriculture strategy to move us in the right direction.
One of the first orders of business for the new Congress should be to eliminate a single sentence in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The language was added in the waning hours of the conference committee negotiations. According to ILSR, if it does not, the commercialization of ethanol made from cellulose could be delayed.
A new report issued by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance urges the U.S. Department of Energy to change its piecemeal approach to commercializing ethanol from cellulose and develop a comprehensive strategy. "The future of American agriculture may depend on this," says David Morris, Vice President of ILSR and author of Putting the Pieces Together: Commercializing Cellulosic Ethanol.
California has moved renewable energy and environmental responsibility to new levels with the passage of a solar power bill and two pieces of greenhouse gas emissions legislation. The solar power law raises net metering ceilings for utilities by five times from their previous levels. One climate bill will establish a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in California and could lead other states to take a similar step. The second climate bill establishes a greenhouse gas performance standard applicable to baseload power plants selling to the California market. 
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has issued guidelines for vendors to obtain funding under the New York State Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Technology Initiative. The goal of the program is to accelerate the conversion of the state's hybrid vehicle fleet (500-600 vehicles) into plug-in hybrids. 
The city of Portland, OR, has established a mandate that requires minimum blends of biodiesel and ethanol in petroleum-based fuels sold within the city and requires city-owned vehicles to maximize use of renewable fuels. The new rules go into effect as of July 2007.
By executive directive, Mayor Gavin Newsom has ordered diesel vehicles in use by San Francisco's public agencies must use at least a 20 percent biodiesel (B20) blend by the end of 2007. The city currently uses about 8 million gallons of diesel fuel each year.
After supporters gathered more than 1.1 million signatures, California voters will see an interesting measure on the November 7, 2006, ballot. The "Clean Alternative Energy Act Initiative" would assess a 1.5-6.0 percent tax on oil companies operating in California to fund alternative fuels and renewable energy development. 
ILSR's David Morris believes that U.S. government programs supporting ethanol need to be refocused on farmers and local ownership and be broadened to include other renewable fuels. His opinion piece in today's New York Times is expanded here in a paper titled, The New Ethanol Future Demands a New Public Policy.
All UK central government departments and their agencies will be carbon neutral within six years in an attempt to model environmentally sustainable behavior to business and consumers. Once carbon neutrality is reached, the government has set an additional target to reduce carbon emissions from government offices by 30 percent by the year 2020.
With a stroke of the pen, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order (S-06-06) that establishes in-state production goals for ethanol - from 5 percent today to 75 percent by 2050. The order also requires in-state biomass electricity to meet 20 percent of the state's renewable energy requirements in the coming years.
Iowa's Governor has indicated that he will sign legislation passed this week calling for Iowa to have renewable fuels - ethanol and biodiesel - meet 25 percent of the state's motor fuel needs by 2020. The new renewable fuels standard relies on a 10 percent ethanol blends and a rapid expansion of E-85 (85% ethanol) infrastructure to get to the goal.
The carbohydrate economy could transform agriculture as well as energy, reviving producer co-ops, and giving farmers a hedge against voilatile commodity prices. For the first time in 60 years, the carbohydrate economy is back on the public-policy agenda. It is an exciting historical opportunity, but one we should approach with deliberation and foresight.
This February 2006 paper by David Morris was adapted from a speech given at the Minnesota Ag Expo 2006. The paper provides a snapshot of today's biofuels industry and a roadmap to ensure that local farmers see significant benefits from the expanding industry in the future.
Last week, a dozen cities, over 100 public power utilities, businesses and a host of national policy groups kicked off a nationwide campaign to urge automakers to accelerate development of plug-in hybrid vehicles. The "Plug-In Partners" campaign is hoping to demonstrate a large market potential so that automakers will start producing plug-in vehicles.
Preferring the term "gas-optional" vehicles rather than plug-in electric hybrids, Austin Energy has adopted a strategy to diversify and grow its electric utility operations and hopes to convince cities nationwide to follow their lead.
A coalition of U.S. and foreign automobile manufacturers and car dealerships in California joined together to file a lawsuit against California's innovative rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in that state. In a tug of war between federal and state authority, the stage is set for an illuminating public debate on how far a state can go in directing its own energy future.