US looks to a broader 'clean energy' rather than renewable future

• 13 years ago (2010-12-23)
• Junior Isles

North America 998 Nuclear 639 Renewables 751

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The incoming US Congress has its sights on a clean energy standard (CES) that includes clean coal and new nuclear technology rather than a federal renewable electricity standard (RES).

This is a shift that Barack Obama’s administration seems willing to embrace and so a federal RES is effectively dead for the foreseeable future.

With Republicans set to assume control of the House of Representatives, energy policy for the next term is focused on a more comprehensive standard than RES and is set to include nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies.

“Renewable is out,” said John Juech, vice-president, policy analysis for consultancy Garten Rothkopf, “Clean is the new language.”

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has urged Congress to consider nuclear and clean coal in order to reach the otherwise speculative target of a 50% 'clean' electricity mix by 2050 target.

“I think lawmakers are coming to the conclusion that a clean energy standard will encompass more technologies and get us faster down the road,” said Joshua Freed, director of the clean energy programme of centrist think-tank Third Way.

Renewable energy advocates seem resigned to a more inclusive standard. “In the new Congress, the renewable energy and ‘emerging’ clean technology supporters will come together to hammer out an agreement”, predicted Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “The guiding intent should be to displace as much polluting coal and natural gas as possible and scale-up 21st century technologies such as renewable energy, clean coal and new nuclear”, he said.

“The clean energy standard is something we would expect to see as part of an energy bill in the next Congress,” Resch said. “The structure is still to be determined.”