Can U.S. Renewable Law & Policy Catch Up?

Transcription

1 World Renewable Energy Forum Session 0530 May 14, :15-2:30 p.m. Can U.S. Renewable Law & Policy Catch Up? K.K. DuVivier Professor of Law University of Denver, Sturm College of Law

2 I. CONTEXT: United States & World Energy Statistics II. IMPEDIMENTS: A Bit of History III. HELP?

3 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.2 World primary energy consumption 1.2

4 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.3 Growth in world energy demand & consumption Source: U.S. Energy Info. Admin., Int l Energy Outlook (2010)

5 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.8

6 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.5 U.S. Energy Production and Consumption Source: National Renewable Energy Lab., 2009 Renewable Energy Databook 7 (2010)

7 Source: National Renewable Energy Lab., 2010 Renewable Energy Databook 107 (2011)

8 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.6 U.S. electricity capacity and generation Source: National Renewable Energy Lab., 2009 Renewable Energy Databook 10 (2010)

9 Source: National Renewable Energy Lab., 2010 Renewable Energy Databook 28 (2011)

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13 The playing field will not be level, even if all financial advantages (tax breaks, subsidies, etc.) are removed, because: 1) The price of conventional fuels does not account for externalities (air & water pollution, health costs, GHGs,); 2) -Infrastructure perpetuates & supports conventional fuels (petroleum fueling stations, highway system, RR for coal); 2012 K.K. DuVivier 3) Conventional fuels had years to mature & were established before extensive public input & environmental review, which would have prevented their development today (mining, dam building, fracing).

14 The Renewable Energy Reader Figure 1.4 Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of Renewable Electricity by Technology Note: The price of solar PV panels was almost cut in half in because of imports of cheap panels from China. A tariff was added in 4/12. Installation costs of PV are much higher in U.S. DOE Solar Sunshot Initiative is working to change this. Source: National Renewable Energy Lab., 2009 Renewable Energy Databook 13 (2010) True monetized cost of generating electricity from coal= 9 to 27 /kwh Epstein, Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal, 1219 Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci, 73 (2011) cited in RER pp. 7-8

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16 A Brief Chronology of the Incandescent Lightbulb 102 years 77 years 1802: Humphrey Davy of Great Britain created the first incandescent light with a strip of platinum. 1882: World's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. 1904: Hungarian patent granted to Sandor Just & Franjo Hananan for tungsten filament incandescent light bulb. Tungsten filament bulbs lasted longer and gave whiter light than carbon filaments. 1945: 795 million bulbs in U.S. 1879: Thomas Edison filed patent for the carbon filament incandescent light bulb. 1885: 300,000 carbon filament bulbs in use. 1914: 88.5 million bulbs in U.S K.K. DuVivier 210 years

17 A Brief Chronology of the Automobile 102 years 48 years 37 years 1769: Steam engine automobiles for human transport 1859: Drake s well oil discovered in Pennsylvania Titusville, PA Late 1890s: Dominance of petrol-gal internal combustion engine by 1910 (helped to propel the petroleum industry) 1921: Bureau of public roads asked the army to list roads necessary for national defense 1956: National Interstate and Defense Highways Act setting up federal support & funding mechanism 1806: Internal combustion engine running on fuel gas 1878: Spurred by a $10,000 reward from the State of Wisconsin, 1 vehicle finished a 201 mile contest course : Model T widely available & affordable assembly line car 1938: FDR gave Thomas MacDonald, chief of Bureau of Public Roads, a hand drawn map of 8 superhighway corridors 243 years 2012 K.K. DuVivier

18 History of Solar PV 33 years 1954: Bell Labs creates power photocell Costs $250-$300 / watt 1979: Costs: $10-20/watt 25 Kw at Mead, NE for remote hydro pumping (still in operation) 2010: 58 MW Copper Mtn Solar Facility, NV 1921: Einstein wins Nobel Prize for theories on photovoltaic effect 1977: Solar Energy Research Institute (now NREL) established 2007: 14.2MW solar PV array at Nellis AFB, NV K.K. DuVivier 58 years

19 2012 K.K. DuVivier First Private Utility-Scale Electricity Generation By Source 1969 NEPA WIND 1979 SOLAR (PV) 2010 SOLAR (CSP) 2010 GEOTHERMAL 1960 NUCLEAR 1955 / 1957 PETROLEUM 1890 HYDRO 1882 COAL

20 RHA 2012 K.K. DuVivier Growth of U.S. Environmental Statutes IA RA WL WRA FCA TGA FWCA 1969 NEPA OSHA CAA NEPA WSRA NHPA WRPA SWDA WA CERCLA EEA ESAA SWRCA SMCRA CWA CAAA RCRA FLPMA TSCA ESECA SDWA DPA ESA MMPA PWSA FIFRA HCA CZMA MPRSA WPCA SARA SDWAA EPAA RCRAA NWPA CSISSFRRA FIFRA NTTAA EISA FFDCA

21 I. CONTEXT: United States & World Energy Statistics II. IMPEDIMENTS: A Bit of History III. HELP?

22 U.S. CHALLENGES: NIMBY & ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS We applied for a [U.S. DOE] loan for a 92 megawatt project in New Mexico, and in less time than it took to do stage 1 of the application review, China signs, approves, and is ready to begin construction this year on a 20 times bigger project! Thomas L. Friedman, Who s Sleeping Now? NYTimes (1/10/2010). [T]he U.S. needs more solar deployment, and we need it to happen fast. China and India have shown us a model of how to do it. Johanna Peace, China and India Launch New Solar Energy Projects (07/2009).