4 steps to energy independence:
Steve Fischmann is leading the way to energy and economic independence in New Mexico
October 2008
Much of the political debate about energy independence and renewable energy centers around how expensive it could be. The fact is that renewable energies present a great economic opportunity for southern New Mexico. Renewable technologies invest more dollars in local jobs rather than exporting dollars elsewhere for fuel. The environmental advantages are obvious. And investment in renewable energy technologies can happen without complicated government programs. A few key adjustments to market regulations that shift the emphasis from protecting existing fossil fuel and utility interests to true market efficiency will do a lot to move us in the right direction.
Reward conservation through updated pricing…
Conservation costs half as much as creating new energy capacity and also stimulates economic activity by encouraging folks to install insulation and undertake other money saving upgrades to their homes. The first step is to start rewarding people who conserve energy. That means moving from rate structures that charge lower rates to high power users, to ones that charge higher rates as power usage goes up. While the total monthly bill would be unchanged, consumers would have extra incentive to conserve that last couple hundred KWH of high priced electrical usage. Called “Inverted Block Rates” this pricing mechanism has proven an effective conservation and cost saving strategy for many utilities around the country. Best of all, this change does not require any complicated government programs.
Stop subsidizing fossil fuel power plants…
We need to eliminate current policy that artificially creates incentives for building fossil fuel power generation that is actually more expensive than wind or solar over the life of the investment. Electric utilities currently treat fuel cost increases as a 100% pass through to the consumer. That means all the fuel cost risk belongs to homes and businesses. Given the 40-50 year life of a new power plant, that’s an awful lot of risk for consumers to take on. If we asked utilities to share a significant portion of fuel cost risks, watch how fast they would switch to renewable technologies for future power generation. Again, this would happen without complicated incentives or bureaucracy.
Reward fuel efficiency…
Doubling fuel efficiency in automobiles would save the average New Mexican driver about $1,800 per year. This is a great economic stimulus for families and our local economy. Incentives for fuel efficient cars would provide a far more lasting economic stimulus than tax rebates.
Invest in long-term solutions…
I'm not against additional drilling. We need transition fuels. But it should be understood that it takes only a year or two to put up a significant solar or wind power generating facility compared to 7-15 years to get meaningful oil production from a new site off shore. That renewable energy could be powering plug in electric automobiles within 2-3 years at a tenth of the cost of oil. This is a clear signal about where our emphasis on energy development should be.
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» 4 steps to energy
independence:
Steve Fischmann is leading
the
way to energy and
economic independence
in New Mexico
» Fischmann Op-Ed on
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