Biden’s Infrastructure Plan will make electricity carbon-free

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  Biden’s Infrastructure Plan will make electricity carbon-free

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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1. Stimulating carbon-free: The backbone of President Biden's plan to use infrastructure spending to advance climate policy is a clean electricity standard for the power sector, a truly ambitious idea. The $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal has one idea, with the aim of "achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035." 
2. Future: "If we act now, in 50 years people are going to look back and say: 'This was the moment that America won the future,'" Biden said during a rollout of the proposal in Pittsburgh. While details are vague about how the "energy efficiency and clean electricity standard" would be enacted, it remains a significant symbolic milestone in the U.S. push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Between now and 2035: The United States is currently at about 40% clean energy on the grid. The difference between now and future depends on whether the 2035 goal is mandatory, or simply aspirational. Congress will have a big role to play in determining how much power is behind it. Previous iterations of a clean energy standard have set a goal of 100% carbon-free energy by 2050 so Biden is significantly advancing the timeline.
4. Radical shift: If President Biden manages to get the idea through Congress, despite the Republican opposition and infighting in Democrats' camp, he will have the power to mandate standards that would accelerate the closures of coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have some version of a clean energy standard, but Biden's proposal outlines a radical shift for the federal government that would see far more solar, wind and other renewable sources come online. Huge investment in transmissions lines would be needed.
5. One hundred per cent: Reaching a 100 percent clean energy future will require new, carbon-free, 24/7 technologies that are affordable for customers. One avenue for bipartisan support could be a rebate and fee program for utilities to build out clean energy capacity. To incentivize the build-out of a green grid, rebates would be given to utilities for expenditures on adding solar, wind and other carbon-free or energy-efficient resources. At the same time, utilities that failed to meet benchmarks would be assessed fees for going too slow. A clean electricity standard would put the United States on a path to get to 80% clean energy on the grid by 2030.
6. Summary: Currently, the US adds about 2 percentage points of clean energy to the grid annually. The new standard — when combined with hundreds of billions of dollars proposed for the grid built-out — would add closer to 5 percentage points annually.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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