For many of us, seeing that there is that of God in Donald Trump has some challenging aspects... but I was very glad to see this morning that Secretary-General Gutierrez , like Schumer, fully appreciates how we are called to try to build connections with authenic if a tad alien folks ranging from Trump to .. others.
That's just background to a consideration of the real-world practical needs of renewable energy, which are quite different from the bullshit metaphysical posturing one often sees both on the left and on the right (aimed at ego boosting, displaying group loyalty and getting votes rather than really helping national security or the environment).
Just as Trump and Schumer mace huge progress on DACA (and ought to be able to come to a deal which works if people really care)... several political allies of mine who claim to be committed bipartisan policy analysts recently encouraged me to write up a simple new proposal which Trump could easily get implemented which would benefit renewable energy FAR MORE than anyn other federal action discussed seriously for the past few decades. What I hoped they would at least send on to Trump's people, with or without endorsement:
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Could true conservative
principles work better than a carbon tax?
The current Administration
has strongly opposed all actions, whether subsidies or national regulations or
even a carbon tax, to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions or dependency on fossil fuels. But could there be a silver lining
in this cloud? Could it it be that conservative principles which the
administration has promised to push harder this year would actually do better
than a carbon tax in expanding market-based profit-based renewable energy? Could it be that the outcome would be better
if we pushed them to actually implement their principles instead of just paying
lip service or being distracted by other things?
Many economists would say
“That could only be possible if there has been a huge market failure here.”
That is exactly what the problem has been. The most important barrier to economically
sound growth of renewable energy has been endless regulation blocking the
development of interstate transmission lines. The reason for that is
simple. Renewable energy in the best
sites is now costing as little as 3 cents per kwh, in actual Purchase Power
Agreements accompanied by actual construction, in regions of sun so reliable
that it isn’t intermittent energy any more. But wind and solar in areas of
mediocre weather and less sun costs far more, to the point where many demand
subsidies worth 40 cents per kwh to justify it, and utilities have to pay a lot
of additional money to compensate for the intermittency.
Why is it that FERC was long
ago given the authority to cut through unnecessary complexity, and approve
interstate gas pipelines, but never given that same authority for long-distance
electricity transmission? Why does the political system give special preference
to projects like pipelines to enable the Canadians to sell their gas to the
Chinese, while not respecting the huge unmet potential for Texans to sell
electricity from wind or sun to the East Coast US (especially between noon and
8PM Eastern Time, where the numbers look good even without subsidies)? (It’s
not because the gas pipelines encounter less local opposition!) This is not a
level playing field. This is a rigged system, picking Americans as losers and
Chinese as winners. Maybe this might be a good time to put a stop to this kind
of imbalance.
Some further sources:
www.werbos.com/Atacama.pdf
====================================================================
Oops! Turns out that certain folks who sell themselves very hard as bipartisan really did not want to be associated with such a degree of pandering (true as the details were objectively). So, OK, a moderated version:
=========================================
Title: Regulations Are Hindering Renewable
Energy Too
By: Paul Werbos, Program Director for Energy,
Power and Adaptive Systems; National Science Foundation, retired
The current administration has strongly opposed
federal government intervention, whether it be subsidies, regulations, or even
a carbon tax. Could it be however that a deregulated market, which the
administration has promised to push, would actually expand market-based,
profit-based, renewable energy more than other forms of
federal action? In response, economists might argue this outcome could
only be possible if a market-failure exists. But, perhaps that market failure
is actually the maze of regulations impacting the
development of interstate transmission lines which are essential for the future
growth of renewable energy.
Transmission lines are so essential in fact that
a 2016 study from the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory identified a lack of transmission capacity as an obstacle slowing the
growth of renewable energy. And while
regulations are the problem, perhaps the solution lies with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC). See www.werbos.com/Atacama.pdf for a concrete example of how large the economic impacts
could be if more long-distance transmission were allowed.
FERC has the authority to approve siting and construction of
interstate gas pipelines but was never initially extended similar authority for
siting high voltage transmission lines. Although transmission siting is
traditionally reserved for the states, in 2015, Congress recognized an
immediate need to expand transmission infrastructure and passed the Energy
Policy Act of 2005. Specifically, §1221 permitted the
Department of Energy to create National Interest Energy Transmission Corridors.
It also granted FERC the backstop authority to site high
voltage transmission lines in specific circumstances. Decisions in the 4th and 9th Circuit Courts of Appeals
however severely limited FERC’s authority under §1221 and no utility has
successfully obtained a transmission siting permit from FERC. The role of the federal government in strengthening
interstate commerce is one of the strongest, clearest principles enshrined in
the founding of the United States.
But with greater amounts of clean energy
available, the need for infrastructure to transmit this generation becomes that
much greater. A regulatory scheme that approves gas pipelines so foreign firms
can sell gas abroad, yet, fails to recognize the huge unmet potential for the
Midwest to sell wind or solar generation to the parts of the US seeking clean
energy is clearly outdated. Maybe now is a good time to put a stop to this kind
of imbalance.
================
Still no. the PRINCIPLE of not working with the Administration and showing the kind of "moral lapse" that Schumer and Gutierrez showed was too much. So we are missing a really huge opportunity.
Now, it IS true that some kinds of cooperation can be a slippery slope. When I was at NSF, I cooperated a whole lot with industry, inviting about 20% if my panelists from industry -- but only from the really cutting edge parts of the relevant companies, in panels managed very clearly to ask about proposals NOT overlapping with existing industry efforts, and to ask about goals which are too risky for industry to invest in where success would nevertheless open the door to industry follow-on. And that was ONE of the inputs to the decision. as I did that, I remember the horrid old days of how the stakeholder system was implemented at DOE almost from the start, after Reagan's dentist left the scene. I remember how collaboration with industry can degenerate into the worst kind of corporate welfare and rigged system, and was horrified in 2014 when folks like Lamar Smith harmonized NSF so much with that kind of destructive vision. (No the swamp is not all Democrats, though replacing Reid with Schumer was a helpful step.)
Because this proposal would help SPS as well as solar farms and wind farms (on a competitive market basis), I do hope that someone like Rohrabacher could take the lead, and maybe even someday help restore the vision of Vannevar Bush, a vision of honorable open competition which needs to be expanded worldwide to more sectors...
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