Energy
Wind turbines offer a viable means to produce clean and renewable energy, a key goal of The Energy Foundation’s Western Power Campaign.
2006 marked increased public awareness of the disastrous impacts of heavy reliance on fossil fuels: greenhouse gas emissions, smog, acid rain, oil spills, and greater health, security, and economic risks. With committed political will, at modest cost, existing technology solutions can produce energy more efficiently and raise worldwide standards of living—with drastically reduced environmental harm. We focused grantmaking on:
- Encouraging cleaner, more efficient cars, trucks, and transportation systems. Our grantees made significant progress toward raising vehicle emissions standards and improving fuel efficiency in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, and China.
- Building a clean energy system in the Western United States. To stop the construction of highly polluting conventional coal plants, the organizations we support promoted a wise alternative of energy-efficient technology, renewable energy, and “clean coal” options.
- Promoting a new, visionary, and bipartisan national energy policy. We bolstered scientific and political support for a U.S. energy policy, written by the National Commission on Energy Policy, that encourages clean technology and would significantly increase federal R&D funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
2006 Highlights
In February 2006, we awarded a $2.4 million grant to the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit forum for the world’s leading government officials and experts in transportation policy. The Council was launched in 2001 with the publication of the landmark Bellagio Memorandum on Motor Vehicle Policy, which set a clear, practical agenda, whereby international fuel providers and automakers can cut emissions of conventional pollutants by 99 percent, and cut greenhouse emissions in half, within ten to twenty years.
Since its founding, the Council has emerged as a respected technical authority and voice for progress toward cleaner vehicles and fuels. In summer 2006, the Council brought top regulators from the dozen most important car-producing and car-using nations together to share ideas and build consensus on key issues. The meeting produced policy recommendations on reducing pollution from heavy-duty vehicles, early strategies for heavy-duty vehicle fuel efficiency, and recommendations on other auto and marine transportation subjects.
Grantees working on domestic energy issues showed progress as well. Over the last three years, a well-coordinated network of organizations convinced state public utilities commissioners throughout the West to delay or cancel construction of conventional coal power plants and adopt cleaner options. This is a major environmental victory: such plants emit roughly twice as much carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour as those with natural gas turbines, and they will last fifty years or more. Arizona adopted a new energy efficiency standard that will save consumers $640 million and reduce electricity demand considerably. Idaho issued a two-year moratorium on new coal plant construction. And California prohibited the purchase of any new coal-generated electricity from plants that produce higher carbon emissions than advanced gas turbines.
With our sponsorship, the National Commission on Energy Policy remains a key player in Washington, D.C. In 2006, the Commission received formal requests from both the Senate Energy Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for assistance in developing carbon policy and auto fuel economy policy, respectively. Commission staff worked very closely with policymakers and opinion leaders with respect to national energy and environmental policy.
2007 Goals
- Defend California’s greenhouse gas standards for automobiles
- Begin conversations in California, Canada, and Europe aimed at adopting heavy-duty truck fuel efficiency standards
- Develop plans for further bus rapid transit lines in Mexico, Brazil, and China
- Complete and publish a study of pollution in six Brazilian cities
- Improve tailpipe emission and fuel economy standards in Mexico and Brazil
- Support the Energy Foundation’s continued work in China toward stronger fuel economy standards for cars and trucks
- Continue to support work by the Bipartisan Policy Center and other grantees on cap-and-trade and fuel efficiency strategies
- Advance a Renewable Portfolio Standard in key Western states, especially Arizona, Colorado, and California
For more information, please visit the Foundation Web site.
