Incentives: Renewable Energy/Energy-efficiency

INCENTIVES: RENEWABLE and ENERGY, SEARCH by STATE

As awareness of the importance of developing energy-efficiency and increasing the use of renewable energy in buildings increases, more incentive programs will be put into place. DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on federal, state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. At this site you can search for incentives for renewable energy or for energy efficiency.

• Color-coded maps have been developed using the DSIRE database to provide a geographical view of the availability of selected financial and regulatory incentives across the U.S. These maps are accessible as PowerPoint slides for easy incorporation into presentations and reports. To view the list of maps available for downloading, click on the link.
• Summary tables provide an overview of state, local and utility incentives available in each state with links to incentive summaries. The Financial Incentives table provides federal government incentive information as well.

The Financial Incentives for Renewable Energy table shows tax incentives, grants, loans, rebates, industry recruitment, bond programs, and production incentives.

The Financial Incentives for Energy Efficiency table shows tax incentives, grants, loans, rebates, and bond programs.

The Rules, Regulations, & Policies for Renewable Energy table shows public benefits funds, renewables portfolio standards, net metering, interconnection standards, extension analysis, generation disclosure, contractor licensing, equipment certification, solar/wind access laws, construction & design standards (including building energy codes and energy standards for public buildings), requirements to offer a green power product, and green power purchasing/aggregation policies.

The Rules, Regulations, & Policies for Energy Efficiency table shows appliance/equipment standards, energy standards for public buildihngs, building energy codes, and public benefits funds.

You can view a description of each incentive type in the glossary.

CAP and TRADE

Cap and Trade is proposed (in the U.S.) incentive legislation designed to limit the emission of greenhouse gases by individual power companies. Under this arrangement, emissions levels would be limited or capped at a certain level. Credits or allowances would be established, each of which would represent a certain amount of greenhouse gases.

Power companies using low-greenhouse-gas-emission technologies to produce power would be more likely to stay within the annual cap and  would be more likely to end each year with a surplus of emissions credits. Power companies using traditional higher-emission methods would be more likely to exceed the annual emissions cap. 

In order to remain compliant with emission standards, power companies which exceed the emissions cap would be able to trade for or buy credits from companies having a surplus.

As 2007 nears year end, the U.S. has no such legislation in place. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which consists of nine Eastern states,  is in the process of developing the first U.S. Cap and Trade program.

Since 2005, some 12,000 large industrial plants in the European Union are able to buy and sell permits to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Emissions Trading Scheme enables companies exceeding CO2 emissions targets to buy allowances from 'greener' ones and help reach the EU targets under the Kyoto Protocol.