opinion

Feed-in Tariffs the best solution to climate/energy crisis
by the World Future Council

At the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), Bianca Jagger, Chair of The World Future Council, said “The threat of a global climate disaster is no longer up for debate. If we do not take decisive action before 2012 it will be too late. World leaders of the wealthiest industrialized nations have a moral obligation to embark upon an immediate renewable energy revolution, to bring a swift end to the burning of fossil fuels. This does not endorse non-sustainable nuclear, or problematic biofuel technologies. The World Future Council welcomes the new efforts in the United States to begin this energy transition.”

On March 6 Congressman Jay Inslee, together with the World Future Council (WFC), presented concrete measures, which would lead to a massive increase in renewable energy use across the United States. In a WFC event at WIREC, Congressman Inslee made concrete proposals for the adoption of the Feed-in Tariff system (FIT) in the United States.

Congressman Jay Inslee said “Americans who produce electricity from capital investments in clean energy technologies will play a key role in any comprehensive plan to drastically reduce US greenhouse-gas emissions, guaranteeing grid interconnection, plus a reliable return on these investments should be part of our nation’s New Apollo Project, aimed at accomplishing for clean energy what Kennedy did for space in the 1960s.”

Congressman Inslee became the first member of Congress to introduce so-called feed-in tariff legislation, under the “Clean Energy Buy-Back Act.” It would chiefly guarantee interconnection to the grid for Americans who generate their own clean electricity, and a long-term contract for a utility to purchase that electricity at a premium rate. Senator Bernie Sanders is expected to introduce a companion measure in the Senate.

Feed-in tariffs, now implemented in over 45 countries and regions around the world, including Spain and Germany, are proven to provide the lowest cost, fastest deployment of renewable energy across all technologies and scales.

According to the German Environment Ministry, 200,000 new jobs have been created in Germany since 1999 as a direct consequence of the Feed-in Tariff Law. And the country has developed a world-beating renewables industry through its FIT. It has shown that renewable energy development can make very rapid progress --- in the last few years it has added renewable energy capacity equivalent to two nuclear power stations a year to the national energy system.

The measures focusing on the US presented at the WIREC convention could be adopted immediately, leading to a higher level of energy security, job creation and an enormous increase in renewable energy deployment.

Hermann Scheer, member of the German parliament and of the World Future Council said, “Through its three basic elements --- guaranteed grid access, fixed fees, no capping --- Feed-in Tariffs have led to investment autonomy through operators who are independent of the power supply industry. New players have stepped into the market who now no longer have to ask the established energy providers for permission to access the grid. Only in this way can a breakthrough for renewable energy take place.”

Congressman Jay Inslee added “Americans have the will, talent and can-do spirit to beat global warming. It’s up to Congress to provide a regulatory framework that supports innovation and then get out of the way.”