Energy policy is a set of commitments made by top management to enhance your organization’s energy performance, including reducing carbon emissions, optimizing equipment energy use efficiency and other measures.
Implementing and upholding effective energy policies must address public health, environmental, and economic considerations. Fossil fuel extraction, emissions from fossil fuel combustion, and nuclear power pose significant threats to the environment.
Fossil fuels
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are nonrenewable energy sources that have taken millions of years to form. When burnt they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, air pollution and other negative environmental impacts.
Burning fossil fuels releases hazardous air pollutants such as sulfuric and nitric acids into the environment as acid rain, damaging both natural areas and built environments (such as monuments made from marble or limestone). Furthermore, this causes air quality issues that negatively affect children’s health – leading to asthma attacks, heart disease and premature deaths.
The Energy Department maintains emergency petroleum reserves and oversees responsible development of America’s oil and natural gas resources, but we also take on a broader mission of creating cleaner energy technologies to support America’s transition towards a low-carbon economy. This involves advocating for policies to increase carbon social cost estimates which account for often unmeasured climate damages as well as supporting clean electricity standards that require utilities to gradually incorporate more renewables into their portfolio.
Nuclear power
Local governments play an integral part in siting nuclear power plants in the US. State and county governments may levy property taxes that impact financial feasibility of plants located within their boundaries; county governments may also object to waste repository projects like Yucca Mountain in Nevada being built within their borders.
The federal government plays an active role in nuclear energy policy through its national laboratories and projects at universities and industry facilities. It provides funding for advanced reactor and fuel cycle research as well as loan guarantees for new plants.
Nuclear technology from the USA plays an essential role in exports to Saudi Arabia and beyond, and public opinion polls demonstrate this fact. Nuclear power provides secure baseload power while simultaneously cutting emissions.
Cleaner alternatives
Alternatives to fossil fuels exist. Renewable sources, including wind, solar, biofuels, nuclear power and hydrogen from biomass provide clean electricity with minimal greenhouse gas emissions; nuclear can be dangerous during emergencies like Chernobyl or Fukushima; hydrogen produced from biomass or even tidal energy can all provide options worth considering in an energy mix; advanced industrialized economies should promote their adoption without considering them an obstacle to economic growth.
CEG advocates for more equitable deployment of behind-the-meter customer-sited clean energy technologies that reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel power plants and traditional backup generators. Their organization offers independent analysis, impartial information and technical support so local advocates have what they need to meet energy and environmental goals and priorities while raising awareness of false solutions that could stall climate progress.
Energy infrastructure
Energy infrastructure is vital to global economic activity. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity; provides transportation fuel; delivers natural gas directly to homes and businesses; supports technological development; as well as technological advances that aid economic activity – investing in energy infrastructure can reduce fossil fuel usage while improving air quality.
Attaining a net-zero carbon future requires rapid end-use electrification and decarbonization of power generation, along with an ambitious modernization of the grid to enable interconnections and cross-border power trade, flexible backup resources such as hydropower, storage technologies and an unified capacity leasing market.
To maximize the benefits of these policies, governments must ensure their implementation effectively. This requires creating an implementation model which balances long-term policy stability with adaptability and collaboration among regions; align with national strategies; allow structured policy evolution; and ensure all stakeholders have their say in shaping these processes.