Join us for another lecture with Syracuse University
Professor Charles Driscoll! Professor Driscoll will talk about the environmental
policy options available to help decrease CO2 emissions to mitigate
climate change. Registration appreciated. This event was organized in collaboration with Sustainable Skaneateles.
Background
Information: Carbon dioxide is the dominate human-generated greenhouse gas
responsible for changing climate. The two largest sources of carbon dioxide
emissions in the U.S. are from electric utilities and transportation activities.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) found that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health, their
emissions needed to be regulated. In
2009 though the Endangerment Finding, the EPA indeed found that climate change
is a threat to public health. As a result of these decisions, the Obama
Administration implemented new fuel economy standards for vehicles and proposed
standards of carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants through the
Clean Power Plan (CPP). These policies were a large part of the U.S. commitment
to decrease carbon dioxide in the Paris Climate Agreement. The Trump
Administration has not been supportive of these initiatives. But due to the Endangerments Finding, they
cannot just cancel but need to replace these policies. The Trump plan to replace the fuel economy
standards was released earlier in August and the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE)
plan was released a few weeks later to replace the CPP.
In this presentation, the approaches, benefits and costs of
ACE will be compared with the CPP and a no policy options. Carbon dioxide
emissions standards for U.S. power plants will influence the fuels and
technologies used to generate electricity, alter emissions of pollutants, and
influence ambient air quality and public and ecosystem health. ACE is an
“Inside the fence line” approach which improves the heat rate efficiency of
individual power plants. As a result, older coal plants are made more efficient
and operate for longer periods resulting in increases in carbon dioxide and
emissions of co-pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury
and fine particulate matter which impact human health. In contrast, the CPP
would use a “beyond the fenceline” flexible approach that promotes energy
efficiency and renewables. Carbon standards to curb global climate change can
also provide immediate local and regional health and ecosystem co-benefits, but
the magnitude depends on the design of the standards.