National Green Energy Surcharge?

An article on the CNN Money Website discusses a proposal by Duke Energy CEO James Rogers to take clean energy surcharges on utility bills national. Here is an excerpt:
"Trying to fund R&D through a cap and trade mechanism is a mistake," said James Rogers, chief executive of Charlotte, N.C-based Duke Energy (Charts, Fortune 500).
Cap-and-trade proposals in Congress - meant to counter global warming - would auction off permits to companies that emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and use the money to fund alternative energy.
Under such system, the government would gradually reduce the number of permits available each year. Companies would then either buy those permits or pay to install cleaner equipment.
Rogers, speaking at a lecture sponsored by the energy information company Platts, said he supported a cap-and-trade plan in which the government gives away permits instead of selling them. He said that was fairer to utility customers in states that rely heavily on carbon dioxide-heavy coal to generate electricity.
Instead, he would fund clean technology research through a surcharge on electricity bills nationwide. Rogers didn't propose a specific charge but said it was essential that all Americans pay for a wide range of clean energy technologies - not just cleaner coal but nuclear, natural gas, wind and solar.
Experts project that domestic electricity demand will surge 40 percent over the next two decades. Rogers said the nation needs to mount a massive response - akin to the Apollo space program or the Manhattan nuclear weapons project.
"We need new technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 or 80 percent," he said. "It's the only way to build a bridge to that world."
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 25 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.htm
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President Bush Proposes Greenhouse Gas Limits

According to the Chicago Tribune,

President Bush, who has long refused to commit the United States to specific limits on pollutants contributing to global warming, took a new turn Thursday in proposing that the U.S. and other leading nations by the end of next year set "a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases."

That is what the president will recommend to a summit of the Group of Eight major industrial nations in Germany next week, along with appeals to match the U.S. in dramatically increasing funding to fight AIDS in Africa and promoting freer international trade.
But with its lack of specifics, the president's plan for addressing climate change falls far short of what the other world leaders hope to deliver at the G-8 summit, set in a serene Baltic Sea resort in Heiligendamm, especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an ardent advocate for averting global warming.

At the same time, European wariness of U.S. military involvement in Iraq-along with Russian concerns about a U.S. buildup of missile defenses in Eastern Europe-could contribute to an environment in which the American president, nearing the end of his second term, will have difficulty mustering support for his initiatives, U.S. and European analysts say.

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The UK's Low Carbon Diet

The UK's tough new climate bill is designed to move the nation to a low-carbon economy. According to Nuclear Engineering, key points of the draft bill include:

• Legally binding targets of a 26 to 32% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 and a 60% reduction by 2050.
• Legally binding five year "carbon budgets", set at least 15 years ahead, to provide long-term clarity for investment in low-carbon technologies.
• New powers to enable the government to more easily implement emissions reduction policies.
• A new statutory body, the Committee on Climate Change, to provide independent advice to government.
• Annual reporting to parliament with a Climate Committee progress report to which the government must respond.
• A requirement for government report at least every five years on current and predicted impacts of climate change.

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World Responds to Climate Report

While the Bush Administration endorsed the UN Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change report released February 2, they rejected demands for mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, the administration said President Bush would rely on his plans to develop more renewable fuel and require more efficient vehicles, according to the Mecury News.

Meanwhile, according the Australian publication The Age, Prime Minister John Howard has used the report to push his nuclear plan.

And in France, President Chirac called for "a revolution," according to the Canadian publication The Gazette.
“Faced with this emergency, the time for half measures is finished,” Chirac said at the opening session of an international conference on the environment.
“It is time for a revolution,” the French president added. “A new industrial revolution, that of sustainable development, lies before us.”
Chirac proposed that this revolution would be led by transforming the existing United Nations Environment Program into a new United Nations Environment Organization, with a political mandate to propose common efforts to deal with climate change.
“We must build global governance for the environment,” Chirac said. “Multilateralism is the key to sustainable development.”
Sir Nicolas Stern, a British expert on climate change applauded Chirac's proposal, saying, “a global problem requires a global response.”

According to the Jackson Hole Star Tribune from an AP report,

Officials in Indonesia and the Maldives, two archipelagos threatened by rising sea levels, said they feared for the future of their lands. Others said the threat was not simply to the environment, but to international peace, prosperity and development.South Africa's Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said failure to act would be "indefensible."

India, which along with China is developing rapidly with a quickly-expanding population, faces the challenge of how to develop economically without ruining its environment. A senior ecology official noted that the climate change panel is "a network of scientists" that cannot set policy."This is a group of climate experts attempting to reach a scientific consensus. It doesn't commit governments to any course of action," said the official, Pradipto Ghosh, of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests.

But beyond the responses of world leaders, perhaps the most eloquent response to this report in the AP article came from a mother in Spain.

"I am worried for him more than anything," said Maite Leon, gesturing toward her 6-month-old. "By myself I cannot do anything, but if we each do our little bit, maybe we can change things. We have to do it all together."

On the NPR radio program Talk of the Nation, several segments dealt with energy alternatives.
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Climate Change at Word Economic Forum

At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a conference with more than 2,400 global political, economic and cultural leaders (including religious leaders), including 800 top CEOs, climate change has come up as an integral part of discussions. Developing countries, who stand to suffer the worst effects of climate change, said on Thursday they would not shoulder full responsibility for a problem created mainly by the rich, according to Swissinfo.

Read what religious commentator Jim Wallis has to say about his participation in the Huffington Post.

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Coal Rush is On

150 coal-fired power plants are under construction in the US. With carbon emission caps looming, utilities may hope that when mandatory emissions caps come the coal plants will be allowed to operate under a grandfather cause.

Meanwhile, China continues to rely on coal, leading to air pollution and environmental damage that could cost billions. At the current rate of increase, China could soon surpass the US in Carbon emissions. Currently, the US is responsible for 32% of the world's carbon emissions.

Read the full items at the World Watch Institute.

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