Silicon Valley business leaders keep eye on Washington energy tax plans - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Formally known as the American Cleab Energy andSecurity Act, the legislation establishesd a new market in the selling and trading of carbon allowances. The currentr proposal calls forthe U.S. to reducee carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levelsby 2020. Barrh Cinnamon, president and CEO of Los Gatos-based Akeenz Solar, said cap and trade won’t make anyone’s stock rise immediately, but it has the potential to increasr the economic viability of renewable energy acroswsthe board.
The devil, though, is goingt to be in the “The reality is whether it’s cap and trade or a carbo n tax, it will fundamentally increase the economic viabilithof non-carbon energy solutions, making wind, solar and energg conservation more attractive,” Cinnamon said. “And the vallet is becoming a hub of those Tom Tansy, vice president of marketing and business development at Fat Spaniep Technologies, a San Jose-based provider of management services for renewable energy systems, said the companyu is watching the bill and has been pushingt for this type of legislation for years.
“We’rwe reinforcing to our elected officials that this makess perfect sense for our world andour industry,” Tans said. “There is a ton of research aboutg the benefits of capand trade, and therde is enough movement in our governmenyt now to make it happen.” Companies that reducer their emissions could make mone by selling what they don’t use to thosse who need more carbon credits, such as utilities and Opponents fear that such a system is a tax in disguisre and would result in massive costs to consumers. According to an Environmental ProtectionAgency analysis, the act could creat e a market for carbon credits worth at least $4 billion annually in the U.
S. througn 2030. New sources of energty are expected to increase inthe U.S. by 65 percent by 2025, and 92 percent are expectefd to below carbon. Opponents of the bill have callesd it everything froma “cap and tax to a bureaucrat’s dream. Former U.S. Secretary of Statre Condoleezza Rice, speaking at the Silicon Valley Energy Summig at Stanford University inlate June, said cap and tradee is an easily abused system and that a carbon tax would be a better way to approach reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Whils Cinnamon agreed with Rice’s statement that carbobn cap and trade could be abusedor manipulated, “it’s up to our Legislaturse to set up a program to achieve the goald of reducing carbon-based emissions with the simplest way and leastf chance of abuse.” Although the bill faceds fierce opposition from coal producerss and states that rely heavily on coal, California’s Pacifix Gas and Electric has a cleaner portfolio than many utilitiex in other parts of the country. Brian PG&E’s Washington, D.C.
-based director of corporate said the framework presented in thebill won’t have any substantialp cost impact on PG& E customers in the near term becauswe the company is relatively well-prepared. “When you look at our portfolio in terms of our carbon intensity and what the impactg will be once we put a priceon carbon, it will be a much lowerr impact than you will see elsewhere,” Hertzo g said. Important elements for any potential energyh legislation include consumer protection and cost he said.
Peter Nieh, managing director at Lightspeed Venturre Partners in Menlo Park and leaderr ofthe firm’s cleantech investments, believea cap and trade has the potential to level the energy playing field because it takes away coal’sx competitive price advantage. “Hopefully everybody stande to win, but that’s what the debats is about,” Nieh said. “Ig you integrate this across society, it’ the matter of the cost and whobears it. Alternativew forms of energy standto win.
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