industries are grappling with new bill on clim

The Wall Street Journal
MAY 21, 2009
Industries are Grappling With New Bill on Climate

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But the Waxman-Markey bill is more than just cap and trade. The proposal would establish requirements that utilities buy at least 12% of their electricity from renewable sources such as windmills, solar panels and geothermal technology.

Another section promotes "large scale" programs to spur demand for electric vehicles with incentives for buying plug-in cars and building charging stations.

The proposed bill offers auto makers several forms of assistance to make the shift to lower-carbon cars. They include as much as $50 billion in loans under an Energy Department program to spur advanced vehicle development and up to $4 billion for subsidies to consumers who trade in older vehicles for more efficient models.

In addition, auto makers would get 3% of the free pollution allowances through 2017 and 1% from 2018 through 2025 -- tied to investments in electric vehicles and other advanced technology.

The proposal would offer rebates to spur demand for appliances that are not only energy efficient, but also come equipped with "smart grid" technology that would allow a dishwasher to know the most economical time of day to run based on variable electric rates. Retailers would get incentives to push highly efficient appliances to consumers.

The act would order the Department of Energy to see to it that building codes are amended to make new buildings 30% more efficient by 2010 and 50% more efficient by 2016. The act would even establish new efficiency standards for "portable light fixtures," also known as lamps.