RENEWABLE ENERGY
Obama:
* Increase share of government electricity from renewable sources. “As president, Obama will ensure that at least 30 percent of the federal government’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.”
* Require 25% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025. “Barack Obama will establish a 25 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind, and geothermal by 2025.”
McCain:
* Encourage alternative fuels. “According to the Department of Energy, wind could provide as much as one-fifth of electricity by 2030. The U.S. solar energy industry continued its double-digit annual growth rate in 2006. To develop these and other sources of renewable energy will require that we rationalize the current patchwork of temporary tax credits that provide commercial feasibility. John McCain believes in an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently to the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers’ dollars.”
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Obama:
* Build neighborhoods around alternative transportation. “Barack Obama believes that we must devote substantial resources to repairing our roads and bridges. He also believes that we must devote significantly more attention to investments that will make it easier for us to walk, bicycle, and access other transportation alternatives. Obama is committed to reforming the federal transportation funding and leveling employer incentives for driving and public transit.”
McCain:
* The Wall Street Journalreported in August that “Sen. McCain hasn’t released a formal policy identified as targeting urban issues.”
CARBON EMISSIONS
Obama:
* Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. “Obama’s cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned, and proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future, habitat protections, and rebates and other transition relief for families.” McCain:
* Implement a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% below 1990 levels (66% below 2005 levels) by 2050. “The cap-and-trade system would encompass electric power, transportation fuels, commercial business, and industrial business – sectors responsible for just below 90 percent of all emissions. Small businesses would be exempt. Initially, participants would be allowed to either make their own GHG reductions or purchase “offsets” – financial instruments representing a reduction, avoidance, or sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions practiced by other activities, such as agriculture – to cover 100 percent of their required reductions. Offsets would only be available through a program dedicated to ensure that all offset GHG emission reductions are real, measured, and verifiable. The fraction of GHG emission reductions permitted via offsets would decline over time.”
* Auction permits to support development of advanced technology. “A portion of the process of these auctions will be used to support a diversified portfolio of research and commercialization challenges, ranging from carbon capture and sequestration, to nuclear power, to battery development. Funds will also be used to provide financial backing for a Green Innovation Financing and Transfer (GIFT) to facilitate commercialization.”
GREEN JOBS
Obama:
* Invest in clean energy. “The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will help create 5 million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.”
McCain:
* Develop and deploy green technologies. “Green jobs and green technology will be vital to our economic future. There is no reason that the U.S. should not be a leader in developing and deploying these new technologies.”
