Common Resources

China Losing Money on Solar - a Good Thing, But Not For the Reason You Think

The NYT reports (h/t Alex Tabarrok) that Chinese subsidies for solar panel production via state-owned banks have led to huge overcapacity, with up to 33% losses on panel sales. Tabarrok points out the parallels between Chinese officials’ reactions and the political fallout from failed U.S. government investments in solar. The rhetoric is similar but there […]

The Democratic Platform: Energy Subsidies

This is part of a series of short posts in which RFF scholars will analyze the environmental plank of the Republican and Democratic Party platforms. This post looks at the Democratic platform. Previous posts analyzed the Republican platform. As with all posts on Common Resources, this and other posts in this series reflect the opinions of the authors […]

Unintended Consequences of a Clean Energy Standard

Last week the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee held hearings on the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012, a bill introduced by Senator Bingaman (D-NM) along with several co-sponsors. The bill was endorsed by the Washington Post in a recent on-line editorial. There is much to like about the proposal, but our analysis shows […]

Analysis of the Bingaman Clean Energy Standard Proposal

In the 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama discussed moving the country toward a goal of 80 percent clean electricity by 2035. One approach that has been proposed to meet this goal—as well as help reduce emissions from the electricity sector—is a clean energy standard (CES). A CES sets a minimum threshold on […]

Creating More ‘Bang for the Buck’ with a Clean Energy Standard

President Obama and Congress have expressed interest in establishing a clean energy standard (CES), and RFF experts have researched its potential economic impacts, but creating movement in Congress has been difficult. Can policymakers find ways to reduce costs for companies while increasing environmental benefits—and put a CES policy on a fast track to passage? A […]

China’s Solar Feed-In Tariffs: One Technology’s Moment In The Sun?

In early August, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the implementation of a national feed-in tariff for solar power, roughly equivalent to 15–18 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). China hopes these guaranteed subsidies will double its current solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity by the end of 2011. Such a goal might seem wildly ambitious, […]

How Will A CES Affect Electricity Prices?

The main opposition to climate and clean energy policy in the United States comes in two forms - energy prices and jobs. The Obama Administration proposed a goal of obtaining 80 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035 using a Clean Energy Standard (CES). A CES uses tradable credits to encourage the use […]

PODCAST: Clean Energy Standard In The U.S.

The Clean Energy Standard (CES) has been a hot topic in the United States for some time, highlighted by President Obama as a way to reach his goal of obtaining 80 percent of America’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. But what exactly is the CES and what does it mean in terms of […]

Renewables Standard is Broad, Flexible and Complex

While the Waxman-Markey energy bill would impose a renewable source standard on electric utilities, the standard, as written, is broad and flexible. It is designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, rather than specifically to promote renewable fuels. Conservation by a utility’s customers, for example, would count against the renewable […]

Committee Brings Transmission Siting Reform to Markup

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to consider a bill Wednesday that addresses federal authority in energy transmission siting. Delivering renewable energy to a broad consumer base will require a vast overhaul of the country’s current piecemeal energy transmission system and regulatory authorities. This measure would remove time-consuming roadblocks to planning and […]