Energy Secretary Chu's Wish List: Cap-and-Trade and Cheaper Solar

By Ucilia Wang

What are on Energy Secretary Steve Chu's wish list these days: a carbon cap-and-trade program and technologies that will make solar power five times cheaper.

Chu trekked over to a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday to pitch for more money for scientific research as the White House prepares for what it expects to be a nasty budget fight. President Obama has provided an outline of his budget proposal, though the detailed budget won't be available for another few months.

In his testimony, in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Chu also nudged lawmakers into working quickly on a cap-and-trade legislation, which the administration desperately needs to fund more clean energy programs. In fact, Obama's proposed budget includes revenue from a cap-and-trade program, which he estimates would send $646 billion to the government coffers from 2012 to 2019.

"I look forward to working with others in the Administration, this Committee, and the Congress to meet the President's goal of legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America," said Chu, speaking from a prepared statement. "Such legislation will provide the framework for transforming our energy system to make our economy less carbon-intensive, and less dependent on foreign oil."

The cap-and-trade would set emission limits for various industries, and require those who pollute above the limits to buy allowances from those who don't. The European Union launched such a program in 2005 and saw it as a way to force polluters to figure out ways to emit less – or pay up.

European countries have hoped that its cap-and-trade program would help them meet the emissions-reduction goals set out by the Kyoto Protocol. But the program's success has been mixed. Efforts to expand the reach of the program to new industrial sectors have drew strong opposition from member countries arguing that any such effort would crush businesses that already have to deal with a severe economic downturn.

This "pay to play" rule will likely be hotly debated. Already, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Obama's plan to auction all of the emissions allowances would be too costly for businesses. Instead, the government should look at giving some allowances to operators of cement factories and coal-fired power plants, for example, while selling the rest, Binagaman said.

There will be plenty of other debates about what the cap-and-trade program should look like. Several industry and environmental organizations already have started pitching their ideas to lawmakers and the White House.

Aside from talking about carbon cap-and-trade, Chu also pitched for more funding for scientific research at national labs and universities in the new federal budget. He cited a research by Dan Kammen of UC Berkeley showing that energy research only gets one-tenth of the government investments in overall research and development, and that overall investments represent 3 percent of the gross domestic product.

Chu said federal dollars should be spent on "transformational research" and cited the invention of the transistors – which are the building blocks of all electronic devices -- as an example.

"[The] DOE must strive to be the modern version of the old Bell Labs in energy research," Chu said.

He outlined several technology goals:

• Gasoline and diesel-like biofuels generated from lumber waste, crop wastes, solid waste, and non-food crops;
• Automobile batteries with two to three times the energy density that can survive 15 years of deep discharges;
• Photovoltaic solar power that is five times cheaper than today's technology;
• Computer design tools for commercial and residential buildings that enable reductions in energy consumption of up to 80 percent with investments that will pay for themselves in less than 10 years; and
• Large-scale energy storage systems so that variable renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power can become base-load power generators.

Comments

[MarkM:]

Terrific goals! Let's make them happen and create the legacy of our generation...one that we can be proud of and that will serve our descendants well. Now, I'd like to see a new, more efficient transmission grid added to the goals. We're losing about 10% due to losses in AC lines and other factors. High voltage DC is one way to go, with metering systems for homeowners so they can track and modify electriciy usage as part of the package. Let's get going!

Mar 06 10:53 AM

[jack kreg:]

why not just move out with LNG powered transportation fleet, cars, buses, trucks and more.
Why put another $100Billion in new energy taxes on the American public, oh wait;
you try to dodge the question with "CAP & TRADE",
which is really a Madoff bait and switch.
LNG powered transportation requires ZERO taxpayer investment,
LNG cars are lower cost than expensive hybrid,
LNG fuels are abundant and cheap in the USA.
CAP and TRADE is a new high tax on American workers.

Mar 06 11:09 AM

[Dave Marsh:]

I love the LNG argument. Somehow Pickens has convinced some people that LNG isn't essentially methane (CH4) which burns to CO2 and H2O. It emits 70% of the CO2 as coal. Yes it's cleaner in terms of SOx and NOx emissions, but does little in terms of GHG reduction. And since methane itself is 23 times worse (on a per unit mass basis) than CO2 in terms of global warming effect, every 0.69 ounces of unburned methane that gets leaked out of this infrastructure is the same as a pound of CO2.

Mar 06 11:58 AM

[Ferdinand E...:]

Something is wrong here. Didn't I tell those people that cap-and-trade was nonsense? I'm beginning to feel the way I felt in leadership school in the Army, when although I was first in my class, they expelled me. And Dave Marsh, you are correct about methane. I hope that you get the message to the right people in the loop.

Mar 06 12:32 PM

[TXDESERTFOX:]

Once people realize capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide, supposedly to avoid climate change (formerly global warming,) is really an evil plan by advocates of one world government to limit global population by reducing production of food (starvation) they will stop this insanity. Hopefully before it is too late.

Mar 06 01:19 PM

[stockdoc123:]

Cheaper Solar = ESLR

Mar 06 03:18 PM

[Jrbarnes:]

Why didn't he also list the repeal of the laws of physics and the repeal of the laws of supply and demand as well, since he is living in a fantasy world, and divorced from reality. To call Carbon dioxide a pollutant is an absurdity. It is like calling oxygen a pollutant. Both are essential to life on earth. Humans are carbon burning and CO2 emitting organisms, as are all other animals. For plant to live, Yhey need CO2. Wihtout plants, human do not live. The whole global warming hoax is just a plot to massively raise taxes.

Mar 06 04:22 PM

[HALFTRACK:]

"JUST WHERE IN HELL DOES PRESIDENT OBAMA FIND ALL THESE LOSERS HE PUTS IN OFFICE????????????????...

Mar 06 08:06 PM

[duce and 1/2:]

half track they never left, they're voted in from under a rock,when voted out they just crawl back under and wait.

Mar 06 08:48 PM

[wallemac:]

Secretary Chu is a very smart man. I agree that cheaper solar would do wonders to mainstream the technology, however, cap and trade/tax needs to be vetted more so that the White House message is less "intellectual" and more "blue collar."

Regards

Mar 11 01:52 PM

[AlexS:]

Secretary Chu may be a very smart man. But they have turned him into a politician and now he sounds like a blithering idiot.

Mar 17 09:56 PM