Federal

• The potenital for any law intended to stimulate new business opportunities and reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is dependent upon effective deployment and implementation of the law.  An agency's authority and an expanded  budget to, for instance, boost economic activity and reduce GHG emissions are useless tools until those tools are leveraged by, broadly speaking, members of a community.  The sample of federal laws that follow this note is for illustrative purposes only.  To learn more about leveraging the law to stimulate clean energy business, contact me to arrange a consultation.

• 26 U.S. Code 45 (providing a tax credit for production of electricity from renewable sources and applying to facilities generating electricity from wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, small irrigation, landfill and trash, hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy.with bonus credits for projects meeting prevailing wage requirements).

 

• 26 U.S. Code 45Y (providing a technology-neutral tax credit for production of clean electricity; replaceing the production tax credit for electricity generated from renewable sources (§45) for facilities placed in service in 2025 and later with bonus credits for projects meeting certain prevailing wage requirements).

State

• The sample of state laws that follow is for illustrative purposes only.  To learn more about leveraging the law to stimulate clean energy business, contact me to arrange a consultation.

•  Carbon-free standard, Minnesota Session Law 2023, Chapter 7, Section 10, amends Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691 (requiring by the end of the year 2030, 2035 and 2040, 80 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent respectively electricity generated from defined carbon-free energy technology).

 

• Minnesota Forward, Minnesota Session Law 2023, Chapter 53, Article 21, Section 2 (establishing Minnesota Climate Innovation Authority Account to stimulate the development of clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects by using innovative financing tools to leverage private and public capital to overcome the market barriers that inhibit the financing of these projects).

A “Code red for humanity” report was issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August 2021. The report noted the continued rise in GHG emissions and the concomitant adverse impacts on “all major climate system components” across the globe. For a reality check, one need only observe the local or regional weather and the floods, droughts, and excessive heat warnings. The IPCC report goes on to state:

Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions. Id.

Given this challenge, is there anything I can do to have a high positive impact on reducing GHG emissions? After doing some research into my options, one of several actions I took at the personal level, in a cold climate, is to install and run a cold climate air source heat pump (ccASHP).

Many non-legal questions have been directed to me about the ccASHP, so I offer some reflections after using it through three heating and cooling seasons. In a nutshell, there is no furnace for those -21 degree F winter days and nights, so the natural gas line was cut and capped. This is where the strong, rapid and sustained reduction in GHG emissions enters.

In addition to being more efficient than a furnace or air conditioner, my ccASHP is also powered by electricity generated with wind and solar energy. In the heating season, the ccASHP simply transfers heat from outside to indoors. The system works in reverse to provide cooling during the hot, humid days. Bottom line: comfort during the heating and cooling seasons while using a very efficient heat transfer system that operates with carbon free energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy provides a good overview of heat pumps and some technical details (see, e.g., https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/air-source-heat-pumps ).

Imagine the impact millions of these systems can have on efforts to reduce GHG emissions. For a September 14, 2023, DOE market update on the role of financial incentives and the use of the Defense Production Act, use this link to register for a DOE presentation: https://www.energy.gov/eere/better-buildings-residential-network/events/heat-pumps-unprecedented-incentives-where-are-we?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

To learn more about my ccASHP or other opportunities to leverage the new legal landscape for energy efficiency and renewables, feel free to contact me.

From wind generated electricity to biomass based liquid fuel, the legal, public policy and technical tools are now in place to help accelerate the creation of new business opportunities and expand green energy supplies. The challenges posed by GHG emissions are enormous, but so, too, is our collective potential to tackle those challenges from all points in Minnesota and across the Nation. 

Rural communities in some parts of the country, for instance, are playing a huge role in supplying green energy. According to 2020 data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), wind provided 22% of the total electricity generated in Minnesota.  As for biomass based liquid fuel, the EIA reports the national annual production capacity expanded to over 21 billion gallons in February 2022. That said, there are opportunities to further expand production of renewables and significantly reduce GHG emissions throughout the energy supply chain.

Among the policy and financial tools available to accelerate new business opportunities and expand the green energy supply are those found in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Over the coming weeks we will explore some of the provisions of the law that can expand opportunities in the drive toward lower carbon, greener energy supplies.