an incentive for power plant operators to implement or expand use of
this energy-efficient approach.
; If non-CHP district energy facilities are
directly covered entities such entities
should receive allocations to the same
extent that allocations would flow
indirectly to building boilers through
allocations to gas LDCs or other indirect
mechanisms. Such a parallel approach
will provide price signals that appropriately reflect the GHG implications
of energy alternatives, leading to economically efficient GHG reduction.
Funding Local Energy Sources
A portion of allowances should be
auctioned to make funding available for
district energy systems to provide thermal
energy from local sources such as CHP,
renewable energy and industrial or municipal
waste heat. For example, the “Thermal
Energy Efficiency Act of 2009” (S. 1621),
sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D.-Ore. and intro-
duced Aug. 6, requires that 2 percent of
allowances under any GHG cap-and-trade
system established under Federal law be
auctioned to provide competitively-pro-cured, cost-shared grant funding for district
energy and CHP systems.
Alternatively, thermal energy and district energy systems should be an explicit
part of any funding program established
for energy efficiency and renewable energy,
such as the State Energy and Environment
Development (SEED) in the ACES. By limiting
renewable energy funding to electricity
only, the ACES limits the ability to shift to
a low-carbon sustainable future. There are
substantial opportunities to expand the
use of renewable energy resources to meet
thermal energy requirements (space heating,
air conditioning, domestic hot water, and
process heating and cooling).
You Can Make a Difference
As you can see, the potential impact
of U.S. climate change legislation on district
energy and CHP systems is substantial.
Please heed the call when the IDEA asks
you to get involved in contacting your representatives in Congress. You can make a
difference!
Mark Spurr is legislative
director of IDEA. He also is
president of FVB Energy Inc.,
a U.S. consulting firm specializing in district energy
and CHP business development, engineering and
marketing, with offices in
Minneapolis, Minn., and Bahrain. In addition
to the U.S. office, FVB has offices in Edmonton,
Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and in
Stockholm, Västerås and other cities in Sweden.
Spurr represents the United States on the
executive committee of the International
Energy Agency Implementing Agreement on
District Heating and Cooling, including
Implementation of CHP. He may be reached
at mspurr@fvbenergy.com.
Additional Energy and Environmental Policy Resources
Van Ness Feldman
Based in Washington, D.C., Van Ness
Feldman has played an important role
in IDEA’s legislative activity. Van Ness
Feldman helps leading energy, manufacturing, transportation, and financial
services clients, as well as numerous
municipal governments, trade associations, and coalitions, design and comply
with the nation’s energy and environmental laws. The firm also provides
transactional and project development
support, and representation in litigation
and administrative proceedings.
cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy
path. EESI accomplishes these objectives
through policymaker education, networking and coalition building, and policy
development. EESI is governed by a diverse
board of directors made up of environmental, business and academic leaders
and has a multidisciplinary professional
staff. IDEA provided a district energy briefing at EESI in April.
analysis on energy, environmental, and
natural resource issues. President Phil Sharp
was a keynote speaker at IDEA’s annual
conference.
The organization has a climate policy
blog at www.rff.org/wv/default.aspx.
To find out more or to sign up for
newsletters or email alerts, visit
www.eesi.org/.
Congressional Contact Information
To obtain contact information for your
members of Congress, visit http://tinyurl.
com/CongressContacts
Read their most recent policy updates
here: www.vnf.com/news-policyup
dates.html. Sign up for regular email
policy updates here: www.vnf.com/
news-signup.html
Environmental and
Energy Study Institute
The Environmental and Energy Study
Institute (EESI) is a non-profit organization
established in 1984 by a bipartisan, bicam-
eral group of members of Congress to
provide timely information and develop
innovative policy solutions that set us on a
Resources for
the Future
Founded in 1952
as an independent
and nonpartisan
research institution,
Resources for the
Future has an institutional endowment of nearly $70
million and is the
oldest Washington
think tank devoted
exclusively to policy
