Become a PUF Member Organization

Renewables

Before You Build It: Think Green

The complex financial analysis that has driven renewable energy investment has become the standard for assessing all potential electric generation investments.

Tax incentives, renewable portfolio standards, and the creation of renewable-energy credits and carbon constraints are no longer separate considerations when assessing renewable-energy projects. The convergence of these economic considerations will affect the value proposition for every potential generation investment in the United States.

Byline: 

Elias Hinckley

Read Entire Article

Perspective

Renewable Energy in the 21st Century:

Perspective

Renewable Energy in the 21st Century:

State involvement in promoting renewable technologies has profound implications for the future of the energy industry.

Election-year posturing seems to have prevented the federal government from reaching consensus on a number of energy issues ranging from standard market design to global warming, MBTE to Kyoto, ANWR to nuclear waste disposal.

Byline: 

Philip J. Deutch

Read Entire Article

RPS: Should States Get Credit?

The risks in renewable portfolio standards.

State-mandated renewable portfolio standards are being adopted across the country to facilitate the development of renewable energy projects. Nineteen states have enacted renewable portfolio standards, but significant barriers remain to fulfill the potential of RPS. Will RPS actually result in a substantial amount of new project construction?
Byline: 

Gary L. Hunt

Read Entire Article

Renewable Energy & Emissions Trading: Building the British Model

The UK offers a model for renewable energy growth.

The United Kingdom stands at the forefront of renewable energy market development. The 2002 Renewables Obligation sets out a progressive strategy for achieving environmental protection, energy reliability and a competitive marketplace for industry and investment. The goals are ambitious: generating 10 percent of total UK electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010; 15.4 percent by 2015; and 20 percent by 2020.
Byline: 

Michael Rosenfeld

Read Entire Article

Renewable Energy: Growing Pains, Halting Gains

Technology Corridor: Mandatory portfolio standards have different implications for different technologies.

The federal government and several state governments are considering programs to increase the share of electricity produced by renewable generation resources to 20 percent or more. If these programs are implemented and pursued successfully, they will trigger a dramatic change in the role of renewable generation and the requirements placed upon it by the market.
Byline: 

Edward A. Reid Jr.

Read Entire Article

Wind Power, Poised for Take Off?

A survey of projects and economics.

An industry advocate touts the recent rise of projects in the pipeline and forsees remarkable growth in wind farms over the next twenty years — more, perhaps, than others would concede.
Byline: 

Christine Real de Azua

Read Entire Article

The Bush Plan and Beyond: Toward a More Rational U.S. Energy Policy

Any plan to reduce energy consumption should rest on economics — not ideology.

In addition to increasing total U.S. gas consumption to 34.7 Tcf in 2020, it would take another 11.3 Tcf/year to convert existing coal-fired U.S. steam-electric capacity to gas-fired combined-cycle units operating at the same load factor. Clearly, that is a tall order. Nevertheless, we must face the fact that there are few alternatives other than backing out coal-fired generation that would reduce global carbon emissions to a total of less than 870-990 million metric tons between 1991 and 2100. The logical endpoint will be electrification of most stationary energy uses with high-tech renewable or essentially inexhaustible energy sources, and the use of hydrogen from non-fossil-fuel sources as the dominant transportation fuel.
Byline: 

Henry R. Linden

Read Entire Article