Powerful Solutions

The Union of Concerned Scientists identifies seven policy tools—Renewables Portfolio Standards, public benefits funding, net metering, fair transmission/distribution rules, fair pollution rules, consumer information, and green customer demand—to transition the US to renewable energy. It argues that deregulation risks favoring fossil fuels unless these mechanisms internalize the public benefits of renewables and remove market barriers.

• Electricity generation is a primary source of air pollution and carbon dioxide, with fine particles potentially causing 64,000 deaths annually.
• A 1999 UCS study indicates that a 20 percent nonhydro renewables generation standard by 2020 would freeze electricity-sector carbon dioxide emissions at year 2000 levels, costing $18 per ton reduced.
• Renewables face significant commercialization barriers, including a lack of infrastructure and a lack of economies of scale, which keeps costs high.
• Government subsidies and tax policies are skewed toward fossil fuels; for example, in fiscal year 1996, $273 million was appropriated for all renewables combined, compared to $422 million for fossil fuels.
• The Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) uses tradable 'renewable energy credits' (RECs) to ensure a minimum percentage of electricity comes from renewable sources while using market mechanisms to lower costs.
• Public benefits funding, often implemented as a charge on electricity sales, can support technologies with long-term potential that are not yet market-competitive, such as solar photovoltaics.
• Net metering allows customers to feed surplus renewable electricity back into the grid and pay only for the net electricity used, making small-scale systems more cost-effective.
• Current transmission rules may unfairly penalize intermittent renewables like wind and solar by requiring advance capacity reservations and imposing penalties for deviations.
• Older coal plants often have a competitive advantage because they are 'grandfathered' from meeting newer, stricter emission standards, saving them nearly one cent per kilowatt hour in pollution control costs.
• Consumer disclosure labels, similar to nutrition labels, are recommended to provide standardized information on fuel mix and emissions to help customers make informed 'green' choices.
• Municipal aggregation, where a city or town purchases electricity for all residents, can reduce marketing costs and increase the viability of green electricity options.
• Wind energy has seen significant cost reductions, falling from 25¢/kWh in 1981 to less than 5¢/kWh in 1998.

APA

Nogee, A., Clemmer, S., Paulos, B., & Haddad, B. (1999). Powerful Solutions. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ps-all.pdf

Chicago

Nogee, Alan, Steven Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad. Powerful Solutions. Union of Concerned Scientists, 1999. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ps-all.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nogee |first1=Alan |last2=Clemmer |first2=Steven |last3=Paulos |first3=Bentham |last4=Haddad |first4=Brent |title=Powerful Solutions |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=January 1999 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ps-all.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nogee1999powerful, author = {Nogee, Alan and Clemmer, Steven and Paulos, Bentham and Haddad, Brent}, title = {{Powerful Solutions}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {1999}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ps-all.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }