Energy Bill Alternatives

[chlamor]

Apr 27 - What if the energy bill that the House of Representatives just approved were completely rewritten to reverse the assumptions that have guided national energy policy for decades? Proponents of an alternative energy agenda say that idea is not as radical as it may sound.

In the wake of what environmentalists view as a disastrous piece of energy legislation, an alternative agenda based on clean energy is beginning to crystallize, buoyed by policy ideas to address emerging energy needs that have outgrown the current fossil-fueled based system.

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Renewables – including wind, solar and geothermal energy – currently provide about six percent of the nation's total electricity, according to the Department of Energy. Though a renewable portfolio initiative did not make it into the final House bill, there is currently stand-alone legislation in both chambers of Congress that would establish a national framework for such an initiative. Nationwide, more than twenty states have already implemented their own renewable energy requirements.

According to the recent analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists using Department of Energy data, under a standard of just 10 percent renewable energy, consumers would save $13.2 billion between 2002 and 2020, and non-renewable energy prices would fall below current projections because competition from renewable energy would lower natural gas prices.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=72&ItemID=7750

[rodeodance]

1. dems will try a few amendments but should consider the above-just

writing their own bill!! Bush/cheneys can not be fixed even if a few
amendments get passed.

[rodeodance]

2. we will be totally insane to have the Bush/cheney bill as our NATIONAL

ENERGY POLICY!!