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 he United States can achieve its greenhouse gas emissions
target under the Kyoto Protocol while saving households and businesses
$500 billion, according to a new study issued today by the American
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Meeting America's
Kyoto Protocol Target: Policies and Impacts recommends ten
major domestic policies that would stimulate widespread adoption
of more efficient appliances, vehicles, buildings, power plants,
and industrial facilities. The policies also accelerate the use
of renewable energy sources and the shutdown of older, dirty
coal-fired power plants.
 "These
ten initiatives could cut US carbon emissions in 2010 by 500
million tons per year -- 28 percent of the business-as-usual
projection," said Howard Geller, Executive Director of ACEEE
and coauthor of the study. "The global warming pollution
cut could exceed 1 billion tons per year by 2020 as efficiency
improvements continue to be made and the use of renewable energy
sources accelerates."
The ten
policies proposed and analyzed in Meeting America's Kyoto Protocol
Target include:
- New appliance efficiency standards and product
labeling.
- Stronger energy codes for the construction
of efficient new buildings.
- Stimulating the upgrade of existing buildings
to save energy.
- Public benefit trust fund as part of electric
utility restructuring.
- Renewable portfolio standard as part of electric
utility restructuring.
- Tougher fuel economy standards and market
incentives for efficient new vehicles.
- Greenhouse gas standards for motor fuels.
- Reducing barriers to combined heat and power
production in factories and buildings.
- Voluntary agreements and incentives to reduce
industrial energy use.
- Tighter emissions standards on coal-fired
power plants.
Faced with
growing evidence that carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases
are inducing climate change, the United States and other nations
negotiated the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on
Climate Change in December 1997. The Kyoto Protocol establishes
legally binding emissions limits for 38 industrialized countries.
The United States agreed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
to 7 percent below its 1990 levels during 2008-2012.
Meeting
America's Kyoto Protocol Target dispels the following
myths.
Myth 1: Meeting our Kyoto Protocol
target would necessarily harm consumers and businesses and lower
economic growth.
Myth 2: It is too late to meet
our Kyoto Protocol target.
Myth 3: There is little that can
be done to cut emissions within the United States cost-effectively.
"The
key to meeting our Kyoto target without pain is to increase energy
efficiency on a wide scale. This would cut energy bills, yielding
savings that more than pay for the cost of the efficiency measures
and renewable energy technologies. We estimate that the ten policies
would save $200 billion net through 2010 and over $500 billion
net through 2020 for the nation as a whole," said Geller.
The policies
recommended in Meeting America's Kyoto Protocol Target
would provide other benefits besides lower energy bills and carbon
emissions reductions. They would lower oil imports and improve
America's trade balance, cut urban air pollution and improve
public health, and enhance US industrial competitiveness.
"If
we are intelligent about the policies and measures used to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, it can be a boon to the economy, to
consumers, and to the environment. Adopting these policies makes
sense even if climate change turns out to be a minor problem.
We urge policy makers to adopt these policies no matter what
they think about the details of the Kyoto Protocol," concluded
Geller.
Meeting
America's Kyoto Protocol Target: Policies and Impacts was prepared by ACEEE and the Tellus Institute, a nonprofit research and consulting firm based in Boston, Mass. Copies are available for $14 plus $5 shipping and handling. Contact the ACEEE publications office, phone: (202) 429-8873; email: ace3pubs ix.netcom.com. 
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