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I am working with Jeffrey Levine who is the Vice President of Government and Regulatory at ENGIE North America.

Some topics I have covered or will cover are:

coal, natural gas, renewable, consumers, and environmentalists. Some topics include the social cost of carbon, carbon pricing, renewable portfolio standard, clean energy standard, economic dispatch of generation, single clearing price v. pay as bid, and State/Federal jurisdiction.

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https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/policy/energy-environment/new-york-carbon-tax-proposal-fizzles.html

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/051921-narrow-path-to-net-zero-means-less-fossil-fuels-but-some-room-for-gas-iea-chief

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How Zero Emission Energy is Incentivized

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How Zero Emission Energy is Incentivized

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The energy industry is driven by profit. Corporations tend to not build renewable infrastructure for altruistic purposes. The money needs to be there. So this begs the question, how can our nation shift from carbon-emitting energy to renewables by our target goal?

The answer is that the government needs to subsidize wind, solar, nuclear, etc. in order to make it profitable in a natural gas dominated market.

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Production Tax Credit vs Investment Tax credit

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Production Tax Credit vs Investment Tax credit

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One way government can promote the construction and production of renewable infrastructure is by giving tax benefits to those who operate and sponsor them.

Investment Tax Credit: A government gives an individual or corporation a percentage discount on the taxes they would normally pay on an investment. This only applies to the money made from the investment. This is a good way to promote the building of renewable energy, but does not incentivize production.

Production Tax Credit: This is a tax discount that can be received based off of the production of a renewable. This promotes the continued output of a renewable energy source.

The government only offers one or the other than can be chosen from

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Cap and trade is a system used by the government to regulate energy companies that emit carbon. The government will hand out a finite number of what are called "emission allowances". Let's say the government hands out 500 of them evenly to 100 different energy companies in a given year. Each allows 10 metric tons of carbon to be emitted. This allows each company to emit 50 metric tons of carbon since they each have 5. This is the cap part of cap and trade.

One company might be very small and only emit 20 metric tons of carbon per year. Now they have an extra 3 allowances that they do not need. So what do they do with them? This is the trade part of cap and trade. Other companies that may emit more than 50 metric tons of carbon may need to purchase allowances from other companies.

Each year, to get closer to a carbon neutral goal, the government reduces the amount of credits it distributes. Lets say the next year, they only give each company 4. Now they are more scarce and the higher emitters have to decide if they want to reduce their emissions or just buy more allowances. Either way, the overall carbon emissions will decrease each year because the amount of emissions allowed decreases.

Essentially, lower emitters or even renewables are able to profit from a system that slowly chips away at the fossil fuel industry.

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On Demand Energy and why it is holding renewables back

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On Demand Energy and why it is holding renewables back

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Carbon fuels are what is called "on demand". When someone needs energy, these fuels are burned and it is produced. There is no intermittence in these sources because there is potential energy in a physical gathered substance.

Renewables on the other hand can depend on the weather. If it is not windy, or if the clouds cover the sun production is diminished. This is a big reason why our country cannot turn to renewables so fast; there is not enough infrastructure to allow renewables to be on demand.

Batteries to store the electricity generated from renewables are crucial in our nations shift to clean energy. If it is cloudy and there is no wind, but there is a battery, energy generated from previous days can be distributed.

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Something that is often overlooked when building renewable infrastructure (examples include solar and wind farms) is transmitting the electricity produces across the nation. To produce a large amount of solar or wind, these technologies have to be put in isolated, usually rural areas.

Take New York for example: if you were to build a wind farm in the state of New York, you would not put it in the middle of Manhattan, because that is not where production would be most efficient. You would but it upstate, in the middle of nowhere. Now, investors should not only be encouraged to invest in the farm itself, but should be required to build transmission lines so the energy generated can get from the middle of nowhere to places where people actually live.

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Energy is a huge issue because of the impending threat of irreversible climate change. It is frustrating to hear that companies are too concerned about profit to stop emitting.

But I have come to understand the nuances of the issue. I am not sure if this only makes me more concerned about our planets future.

Climate Change is very much a global issue, but there are obvious subdivisions. Each country has to tackle the issue in their own way. And then in the US for example, each state often has to deal with things themselves. So, this massive, urgent global threat is truly a team effort. Everybody at the smallest level has to do something or else it's going to be really bad.

Each state has to consider their own economic factors. Many local economies rely on polluting power plants for jobs. The United States is the largest producer of natural gas. It is a massive industry that employs so many people. It is an economic driver that our country cannot really shift away from so fast or else it will jeopardize the entire economy.

As someone that views climate change as one of the most important issues we face right now, I come away from this internship not knowing what to do. Everything is so complicated and bureaucratic that I am concerned that this issue will not be solved fast enough.