« Hydrogen-Station Homing on Honda FCX | Main | Australian Medical Association Backs Mandatory Biofuels Use »
Energy Bill Passes House, Heads for Senate
28 July 2005
 |
| Select funding initiatives from the Energy Bill. |
The Conference version of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (which the House passed today 275–156) is a head-wracking 1,724 pages of policy, programs, pork—and the occasional hint or glimmer of a shift in focus and attitude.
In general, the bill (a) incents more production through generous subsidies to the energy industry, but with some increasing emphasis on renewables (b) invests heavily in long-term, high-ticket technologies (hydrogen, fusion, clean coal, next-generation nuclear) (c) does essentially nothing for the short- to medium-term to reduce the consumption of petroleum.
That’s not to say that there are no positive aspects to the bill. It significantly increases the amount of money targeted toward renewables. It significantly ups the ante on the hydrogen front (which, admittedly, is not a benefit for some). It supports and funds the development of forest biomass as an energy feedstock, and supports the development of cellulosic ethanol.
It even has minor funding provisions for plug-in hybrids, and for the exploration of V2G systems (Vehicle-to-Grid, in which excess electricity stored in an electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell vehicle could flow back into the grid.
But it ignores the most obvious, simplest, and probably least overall expensive option for decreasing petroleum use: increasing fuel economy requirements. Aggressively supporting the development of hybrids, plug-ins and electric vehicles. (There is funding for those in the bill, but relatively minor.)
It lost, along the way, provisions that mandated targeted reductions in petroleum consumption in years to come. And it sidesteps any targeted reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
(As a bit of a surprise, it also does not include drilling in ANWR. Nor does it indemnify the makers of MTBE, the targets of more than 150 lawsuits.)
What follows is a rough, initial snapshot of some of the provisions relevant to transportation. (Dollar figures with a “+” indicate that the bill specifies funds “as needed” for later years of a specific program. The funding for each item is spread over differing ranges of years.)
| Select Provisions from the Energy Bill | ||
|---|---|---|
| Section | Initiative | Funding ($mil) |
| 208 | Sugarcane Ethanol Program (targeted at Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii) | $6 |
| 210 | Improving forest biomass for electric energy, heat and transportation fuel | $550 |
| 417 | Development of Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels from Illinois basin coal | $85 |
| 706 | Developing flex-fuel hybrids/plug-in flex fuel hybrids | $40 |
| 721 | Advanced Vehicle pilot program for alternative fuel, fuel cell or hybrid vehicle programs | $200 |
| 731 | Fuel cell bus development and demonstration program | $50 |
| 741 | Clean School Bus Program (alternative fuels, ethanol, biodiesel, ULSD) | $110 |
| 742 | Diesel truck retrofit program | $100+ |
| 755 | Conservation through bicycling program | $6.2 |
| 756 | Reduction of idling program (including locomotives) | $140 |
| 757 | Biodiesel engine testing program (biodiesel from different sources, and blended with ULSD) | $25 |
| 758 | Development of ultra-efficient aircraft engines with a 10% increase in fuel efficiency and a 70% decrease in NOx emissions on takeoff and landing | $250 |
| 782 | Mandated levels of federal and state fleet procurement of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles starting in 2008 and running through 2015 | $100+ |
| 791–797 | Programs for the reduction of diesel engine emissions | $1,000 |
| 801–805 | Programs to develop the hydrogen supply; develop fuel cell technology; and fund demonstrations | $3,230 |
| 915 | “Secondary Electric Vehicle battery use”—V2G study | – |
| 801–805 | Programs to develop the hydrogen supply; develop fuel cell technology; and fund demonstrations | $3,230 |
| 942 | Production incentives for cellulosic biofuels—1 billion gallons per year by 2015, with cost parity to diesel or gasoline | $250 |
| 801– |
Programs to develop the hydrogen supply; develop fuel cell technology; and fund demonstrations | $3,230 |
| 1346 | An increase in tax credits from $0.50 to $1.00 per gallon renewable biodiesel (made from a thermal depolymerization process of waste rather than from the transesterification of seed oil | – |
| 1512 | Conversion assistance for cellulosic biomass, waste-derived ethanol and other approved renewable fuels | $750 |
| 1514 | Advanced biofuels research | $110 |
There are other tax credits and subsidies I’ve missed in this initial list.
Resources:
July 28, 2005 in Policy | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (3)
Comments
Posted by: stomv | July 28, 2005 at 06:04 PM
Nice work on the digging up of program totals.
I think it was a serious error on your part to include 5 year totals, as you did for the Section 801-805 group.
This is a pre-election bill.
Since that was so easy, want to go back and see how these programs were funded in previous appropriations :) ?
I can help you graph them over time, easily enough.
I did this without any trouble, a graph of oil usage by sector for 1949-2003.
Posted by: Josh Narins | July 29, 2005 at 12:21 PM
Hey, what's up?
Are you bad at adding, or am I?
On page 786 of the PDF I see a lot of numbers, but they don't total 3.23 billion, they total 1.92 billion.
Nothing else in sections 801 through 805 list any money totals at all.
What did I miss?
It would be neat if I exposed some sort of scam, pseudo-green website :)
Posted by: Josh Narins | July 29, 2005 at 12:29 PM
I included the funding for demonstrations.
$1,060 million for supply.
$860 million for fuel cell technology.
$1,310 million for demonstrations.
Total = $3,230 million
My bad, though, demonstrations are specified in Section 808. :-)
Posted by: Mike | July 29, 2005 at 12:40 PM
i think the only way to look at it is to step back and say this level of oil/gasoline prices stimulated this kind of energy bill.
higher prices (which i think we'll get) should stimulate another.
but you know, the most aggressive responses we can imagine (vehicle renewal fees based on mpg?) are not going to happen without a real sense of emergency ... and we aren't going to get that without expensive gasoline.
Posted by: odograph | July 29, 2005 at 02:09 PM
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/22062/2903307
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Energy Bill Passes House, Heads for Senate:
» New Energy Currents: 2005-08-05 from Winds of Change.NET
Much like the thank-God-it's-finally-over Energy Bill, New Energy Currents for July is a little late. Hey, it's summer. New Energy Currents is a broad, monthly roundup of new development... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 4, 2005 4:38:03 PM
» Energy Policy Act of 2005 - a great victory for daylight savings from Hydrogcicle
Well it took a while to come about (approx. 5 years?) but the infamous energy bill is expected to be signed by Bush on August 8th. Click here if you’d like to read it, but beware, it’s a big’un. About 1724
pages, and a PDF, and cal... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 4, 2005 8:00:05 PM
» Ipotesi dopo Katrina from Network Games
Raffinerie e impianti strategici a prova climatica? Simulazione Finanziamenti 2006 agli ibridi Usa Tasse sulla benzina in Cina Scetticismo californiano Europa: proposta euro5 Proposta tassa su co2 Risultati dal 95 -12% Usa: energy bill, 28 giugno battagli [Read More]
Tracked on Sep 6, 2005 9:58:32 AM
So a GOP Congress is showing signs of "getting it" -- which says to me that if the Dems take some seats in 06 and a few more in 08, that the future energy bills might start to show real funding for immediate relief on the electric grid and in automobiles with green alternatives.