Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
energy sources to the power transmission grid and credit producers for excess
generation; and 45 states offer tax credits, grants, or loans to stimulate the
deployment of renewable energy. Examples of state initiatives include the
following: Since 1980, Minnesota has enacted various mandates and production
incentives to stimulate the use of ethanol. Minnesota had displaced nearly 10
percent of all of its gasoline consumption with ethanol by June 2006 and had
nearly one-third of the nation's ethanol fueling stations in September 2006. Texas'
2005 legislation extended the state's 1999 renewable portfolio standard to require
the installation of 5,000 megawatts of new renewable capacity by 2015. As of
September 2006, electric power companies had installed over 1,900 megawatts of
new renewable capacity in Texas—approximately 3 percent of its total electricity
consumption. California's Solar Initiative called for 3,000 megawatts of new solar
capacity by 2017. In response, 150 megawatts of new solar capacity have recently
been installed. Some states have also established mandates and financial
incentives to stimulate advanced fossil and nuclear technologies. For example,
2002 legislation in Indiana established investment tax credits for advanced coal
power plants to encourage cleaner coal technologies. Similarly, Calvert County,
Maryland, recently offered a 50-percent, 15-year property tax credit to the owner
of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant if an additional nuclear reactor is built.
Each of the six countries we reviewed—Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Japan,
Spain, and France—has sustained long-term efforts using mandates and/or
incentives to deploy advanced energy technologies that are providing, or are
expected in the future to provide, significant amounts of energy. For example, by
2005, Brazil had eliminated its need to import crude oil for gasoline by using
mandates and price subsidies to stimulate the development of an ethanol industry
that uses domestic sugarcane. Similarly, Denmark's stimulation of renewable
energy has resulted in wind energy generating 19 percent of total electricity
consumed in 2005. Denmark's support of wind energy has also created a thriving
domestic wind turbine industry, which grew from about 200 megawatts to more
than 3,000 megawatts in annual global sales over the past decade. To develop a
sustainable energy supply and protect the environment, Germany established a
goal to increase the share of renewable energy consumption to at least 4.2 percent
of its total energy requirements by 2010 and to 10 percent by 2020. The 2010
target was exceeded in 2005, when renewable technologies accounted for 4.6
percent of consumption. To reduce its reliance on imported energy, Japan initiated
a 10-year program subsidizing the cost of residential solar systems. As a result,
solar systems were installed on more than 253,000 homes and the price of
residential solar systems was cut by more than one-half. Spain, supported in part
by a European Union program to promote cleaner energy technologies, is
