From pv magazine USA
While there is still time to go before the ballots are all counted and the winner of the 2020 presidential election is determined, a win by Joe Biden would mean significant change in American climate and energy policy.
However, the near certainty that the Senate will remain in Republican control puts a damper on Democratsโ plans. With that in mind, letโs take a cursory look at what a Biden-Harris administration could accomplish on climate and energy in its first 100 days.
Without Congress
Like every campaign, the Biden camp promises immediate and sweeping action on day one in office, including โA series of new executive orders with unprecedented reach that go well beyond the Obama-Biden Administration platform and put us on the right track.โ
Early on, executive orders will be the most effective way to institute policy and will likely be reserved for the administrationโs landmark goals.
The likely scope of these orders will include undoing actions by the Trump administration to weaken industrial pollution regulations, reduce automobile and appliance efficiency standards and open federal lands to oil and gas extraction.
The most prominent day one executive action that the Biden administration could take would be to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, which the U.S. officially left on Wednesday.
There are two courses that any administration can take to enter into international agreements, only one of which requires Senate approval. In fact, the majority of international agreements that the U.S. has entered into since World War II have come as sole executive agreements. There is also historical legislative precedent for a president to act with sole executive authority on international climate matters.
With Congress
Another of the Biden campaignโs day one promises is to โmake smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change.โ
These plans would require federal funding, which brings congress into the fray.
All of these measures fall under Bidenโs $2 trillion climate plan, which is already expected to meet staunch opposition from Republicans, so it appears unlikely that these investments could be made in the first 100 days, let alone day one.
Luckily for Biden, not all of his climate- and energy-related measures will be met with direct Republican opposition. According to the campaignโs climate plan, Biden will โdemand that Congress enacts legislation in the first year of his presidency that: 1) establishes an enforcement mechanism that includes milestone targets no later than the end of his first term in 2025; 2) makes a historic investment in clean energy and climate research and innovation; 3) incentivizes the rapid deployment of clean energy innovations across the economy, especially in communities most impacted by climate change.โ
The first point relates to Bidenโs pledge to set the power sector on a course for complete decarbonization by 2035. This is the most unlikely scenario to be passed in the first 100 days, as utilities and energy experts alike have already questioned its feasibility.
Where progress can happen
If there is a way that Biden is going to be able to break through to Republicans in the Senate, using the economy as catalyst for energy investment is the way to do it.
In September, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Sheldon Whitehouse took part in a Stanford University-hosted event to discuss prospects for bipartisan climate change legislation. During the event, the two were in agreement that bipartisan support exists for research and development into grid technologies. The idea here is that, regardless of who the president is, high penetration of renewables onto the grid is all but inevitable, so there is support across the aisle into developing the best way to integrate these resources.
Additionally likely would be clean energy employment and infrastructure investments coming by way of a coronavirus relief bill. This would likely be one of the first pieces of legislation pursued by a Biden administration and, with some compromise, could gain bipartisan support.
Economic recovery in a country that is still very much virus-inflicted has been a chief concern for both parties, which means there could be support for tax incentives aimed at renewable development. In the same vein, Biden could gain access to federal funds for the creation of clean energy jobs.
While the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen significantly since its high of around 15% at the onset of the pandemic, itโs still roughly double what it was at the beginning of the year, currently sitting at 7.9%. Itโs fully plausible that some senate Republicans could prioritize economic recovery and increased national employment over fossil fuel interests.
What not to expect
Setting the power sector on a course for complete decarbonization by 2035 will almost certainly not happen in the first 100 days and would be an accomplishment if it happens in Bidenโs first term, assuming he wins. And while rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement will likely happen in the first 100 days, any additional international action is unlikely in that short of a span.
The Biden campaign outlines nine key elements of a plan for a clean energy revolution, one of which promises that, within the first 100 days, Biden โwill convene a climate world summit to directly engage the leaders of the major greenhouse gas-emitting nations of the world to persuade them to join the United States in making more ambitious national pledges, above and beyond the commitments they have already made.โ
Could this summit happen? Yes.
Will any binding international pledges come out by the end of April? Itโs unlikely.
For now, itโs safe to assume that the most likely actions to be taken in the first 100 days will be a rollback on many of President Trumpโs executive orders regarding emissions and fossil fuel extraction, a rejoining of the Paris Climate Agreement and clean energy employment and research investment being included in a coronavirus relief bill.
For a more general look at his energy and environment platform, look to Bidenโs 9 Key Elements fact sheet, climate plan and clean energy plan.
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A 15TW Solar System Generating 20,000 TWhrs/yr can make The US… Carbon Free from a Supply Side to meet ALL its Energy Needs… That is about $20Trillion.. including 20% Sunset-to-Sunrise Energy Storage.
If this is done by 2050…. that makes it barely $650Billion/yr .. if the US spends $2 Trillion/yr US can easily be “Carbon Free by 2025 …. if it wants (where did the COVID Trillions come from… overnight or the Bush BailOut in 2007… and they are “bailouts” NOT REVENUE GENERATORS…. like here wirh these Revenue Generating Assets)…. but will have to work HARDER FROM THE DEMAND SIDE (CAV’s, Solar Ships, LTA… Lighter Than Air…. Solar InterContinental Cruisers/Elec Shuttles Air Travel, H2, (No NOx), O2 based Clean Fuels, etc… for Industry.. and Heat Pumps ALL OVER for HVAC, Hot/Cold Water….)…
As far as Utilities are concerned only Electricity by Utility Owned Power Plants are “Grid Quality” the rest is not based on Science…. so please do not worry about head in tbe sand Utilities, Edision Institute, EPRI…. they are like ๐๐๐๐๐๐ mouthpieces of one another.
Utilities fought PURPA decades back… then Gas Turbines too… as they made their Nuclear and Coal Stations Obsolete…. the “Utilities Song and Dances” of the Sky Falling Down…. is long… very long…. very very long…. in other words it is in the DNA of Utilities to OPPOSE.. OPPOSE… OPPOSE… everything that does not have THEIR SUPPORT…
I know…. I have worked with Utilities for 30 years in US and Canada starting in the 1970’s…. (no I DONOT go back to Edison and Tesla … but compared to today…. getting pretty close to their times…. yes… I have been around…)..
So…. the ONLY ISSUE IS WHAT DOES USA WANT TO DO. With an Economy of $22+Trillion…. a mere $2Trillion/yr is quite feasaible and probably comes pretty close to all the Annual Tax and Other Benefits and Grants given to the Polluting Fossil Industry as they start shutting down… NOW ASAP and NOT ALAP (As Late As Possible)…. The Utility “Song & Dance” as they MAKE AMERICANS SUFFER DAILY…