Difference between revisions of "Draft GPUS Platform Amendment Energy"

Revision as of 23:30, 6 April 2010

Section title: Energy

Section subtitle: Energy for a safe climate and a cleaner world

Our position: The Green Party advocates a decisive shift away from fossil fuels and nuclear power toward conservation, efficiency and cleaner, renewable, local energy sources.

Energy use is at the core of many environmental and social problems. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes 22% of the world’s energy resources. U.S. dependence fossil and nuclear energy sources has generated an unparalleled assault on the global environment and human rights in many nations. In the U.S. low income communities and communities of color bear the greatest burden of health impacts due to exposure to emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants. Native American communities have been devastated by uranium mining, and the poor of Appalachia witness helplessly as their ancient mountains are destroyed for a few years' worth of coal-fired electricity.

The regional and global peaks in supply of oil, gas, coal and uranium production are driving up costs of conventional fuels, threatening continued wars and social chaos. To avert this we must move beyond the dirty and dangerous energy sources immediately and invest in only the cleanest, most sustainable energy strategies.

Energy management must be governed by the principle of conservation, efficiency, and clean renewables. Of highest importance is to use less, then to use wisely, and to have clean production of what is used. We advocate strong public policies to widely deploy conservation, efficiency, and clean renewable energy technologies. Examples include tax credits, renewable portfolio standards, research programs, loans and grants. Existing policies that currently benefit nuclear power, combustion technologies (including technologies that produce burnable fuels) or large hydroelectric dams should be eliminated and reallocated to conservation, efficiency, wind and solar power.

Greens support municipal, county-level, and state efforts to regain control over electricity by establishing democratic, public utility systems, to locally coordinate supply and demand and to eliminate energy trading. Ratepayers deserve full disclosure of the specific electric generating facilities used to produce their electricity.

GREEN SOLUTIONS

CLEAN RENEWABLES

1. Support public subsidies for clean renewable energy technologies – technologies that do not create pollution in the course of generating electricity. These can include wind, solar (including solar thermal and concentrating solar), ocean power, geothermal, and small-scale hydro. Since even clean renewable energy can have negative environmental impacts, care must be taken to minimize such impacts. Clean renewable energy does not include nuclear power, any sort of combustion or process in which by-products are ultimately combusted, or hydroelectric dams that block entire rivers.

2. Federal commitment to the mass-production of cheap, non-toxic solar photovoltaic technology to enable widespread deployment of solar power. To make solar more cost-competitive, we support large-scale government purchases of solar cells for installation on government facilities.

3. We support efforts of individuals and institutions to voluntarily purchase wind and solar power products through tradable renewable energy certificates. However, there are limits to the volunteer, market-based approach to promoting clean energy. Just as we cannot expect that individual purchases of organic food will cause all food production to become organic, we cannot expect that voluntary approaches will be sufficient to fully replace current energy supplies with clean energy. We support net-metering to make decentralized energy production economically viable.

4. We support further research to identify more safe, clean renewables and safe energy storage strategies.

END EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION OF FOSSIL ENERGY SOURCES

1. Oppose further coal, oil and gas drilling or exploration.

2. Ban the construction of hydroelectric dams.

3. Ban mountaintop removal mining.

4. Stop the development of fuels produced with polluting, energy-intensive processes or from unsustainable or toxic feedstocks, such as genetically-engineered crops, coal and waste streams contaminated with persistent toxics.

NO NUCLEAR POWER

1. Ban any new construction of nuclear fission power plants

2. Decommission all existing U.S. nuclear power plants expeditiously

2. Phase out technologies that use or produce nuclear waste, including non-commercial nuclear reactors, reprocessing facilities, nuclear waste incinerators, food irradiators, and all commercial and military uses of depleted uranium.

3. Ban plutonium (MOX) fuel, nuclear fuel reprocessing, uranium enrichment, and the manufacturing of new plutonium pits for a new generation of nuclear weapons.

4. No public subsidies or bailouts for the nuclear power industry.

5. Safe, secure, above ground storage for existing nuclear waste. We do not support exporting wastes to other nations.

6. Strict regulation of radioactive materials and wastes and prohibiting such wastes to be recycled into consumer products and to enter municipal waste landfills and incinerators.

7. Close, clean up and remediate at national labs devoted to nuclear energy and weapons development and operations at the Department of Energy's nuclear production sites.

8. A military clean up of depleted uranium contamination from testing ranges and battlefields, and full compensation for exposed veterans and civilians who have been affected by depleted uranium exposure.

9. Independent, transparent radiation monitoring at all nuclear facilities.

CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY

1. Create extensive energy conservation efforts, with a goal of reducing energy consumption by 50% by 2030. (Review amount and time goal)

2. Decentralization of electric grids by promoting energy efficiency and distributed clean renewable energy.

3. Tax-exempt bonds should be authorized to finance public ownership of utilities and to allow publicly owned utilities to finance conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects.

4. Smart energy utility regulation for generation, transmission and distribution, not deregulation.

5. Building codes for new construction that incorporate the best available energy conservation designs. New construction should be required to use proven passive solar methods to achieve substantial portions of its heating energy from the sun. For existing homes and buildings, we support programs to aid in their weatherization and increased energy efficiency.

"'TRANSPORTATION FUELS'"

Greens recognize five criteria for acceptable transportation fuel:

1. Is the fuel clean? (not just tailpipe emissions, but in the full fuel cycle from production to end use) 2. Is the fuel renewable? 3. Can the fuel power the vehicle fleet safely and economically? 4. Is the fuel production system scalable, i.e., is it possible to produce and use this fuel on a scale that can meet wide demand without causing harm or disruption to other systems like food production? 5. Does the fuel impact any segment of the population disproportionately?

If the answer to any one of these questions is "no" then the fuel is not acceptable as a fuel that can be considered on a broad scale as a replacement for conventional (fossil) fuels. If the answer to each of these questions is yes, then the fuel in question may be deemed "sustainable."

We support small and community-scale renewable and biofuels fuel production operations or programs that recover otherwise wasted biomass and/or utilize clean primary energy sources such as wind and solar.

We support research into advanced fuels when the purpose of the research is to develop a fuel that in its full cycle does not create more problems than it solves.

2004 PLATFORM ON ENERGY

Our energy use and abuse is at the core of many environmental and even social problems. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes more than 25% of the world’s oil, gas and electricity. Major damage to land, air and water around the world has resulted from such industries as mining, drilling, transportation, pipelines, and generation of toxic and radioactive wastes. Our oil and gas addiction in particular has led to wars and human rights abuses in many countries.

We advocate strong energy policies at all levels of government to shift decisively away from polluting energy systems towards reduced energy use and clean energy sources.

We oppose energy utility deregulation. We support strong protections for electricity and natural gas consumers. These protections can only occur in a locally-controlled, fully regulated energy system that directly links generation with transmission and distribution. We recognize that deregulation and its reliance on markets – as opposed to state-based regulations – is incapable of providing affordable, reliable and clean energy. We support state efforts to regain control over electricity by establishing democratic, public control systems to locally coordinate supply and demand and by eliminating energy trading. Consumers deserve full disclosure of the specific electric generating facilities used to produce their electricity. We support net-metering to make decentralized energy production economically viable.

Energy management must be governed by the principle of conservation, efficiency, and clean renewables. Of highest importance is to use less, then to use wisely, and to have clean production of what is used. We advocate strong public policies to widely deploy conservation, efficiency, and clean renewable energy technologies. Examples include tax credits, renewable portfolio standards, research programs, loans and grants. Existing policies that currently benefit nuclear power, combustion technologies or large hydroelectric dams should be eliminated and reallocated to conservation, efficiency, wind and solar power.

Conservation and Efficiency

1. Extensive conservation measures will bring huge resource savings for both the economy and the environment. Europe already consumes less than half of the electricity consumed per capita in the U.S. We call for extensive energy conservation efforts, with a goal of reducing energy consumption by 50% in 20 years.

2. We support efforts to decentralize regional electric grids by promoting energy efficiency and localized clean renewable energy. Tax-exempt bonds should be authorized to finance public ownership of utilities and to allow publicly owned utilities to finance conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects.

Clean Renewables

3. The U.S. is blessed with tremendous renewable energy potential, enough to meet the entire electric demand of the country. We call for a Manhattan Project-level of commitment to developing clean renewable energy technologies – technologies that do not create pollution in the course of generating electricity. These can include wind, solar, ocean power, geothermal, and small-scale hydro. Since even clean renewable energy can have negative environmental impacts, care must be taken to minimize such impacts. Clean renewable energy does not include nuclear power, any sort of combustion or process in which by-products are ultimately combusted, or hydroelectric dams that block entire rivers.

4. The Green Party calls for federal commitment to the mass-production of cheap, non-toxic solar photovoltaic technology to enable widespread deployment of solar power. To make solar more cost-competitive, we support large-scale government purchases of solar cells for installation on government facilities.

5. We support efforts of individuals and institutions to voluntarily purchase wind and solar power products through tradable renewable energy certificates. However, there are limits to the volunteer, market-based approach to promoting clean energy. Just as we cannot expect that individual purchases of organic food will cause all food production to become organic, we cannot expect that voluntary approaches will be sufficient to fully replace current energy supplies with clean energy, since only a tiny percentage of the energy supply can be affected by a volunteer purchasing approach.

Fuels for Transportation and Heating

6. Oil and gas are the primary fuels used for transportation and heating. U.S. dependence on oil and gas has driven an unparalleled assault on the global environment and on human rights in many nations. We call for major reductions in fuel consumption as we prepare for a fuel system based on clean hydrogen production and the use of fuel cells.

7. We support the use of hydrogen as an energy storage medium, which makes it possible to operate a decentralized grid on intermittent energy generation methods, such as solar and wind. Fuel cells (using hydrogen sourced from water and separated by electrolysis with power provided by clean, renewable energy technologies) should be used to efficiently distribute electricity as needed. We oppose the use of nuclear technologies or carbon-based feedstocks for hydrogen production.

8. We oppose the development of environmentally-destructive “alternative” fuels produced from unsustainable or toxic feedstocks, such as genetically-engineered crops, coal, or waste streams contaminated with persistent toxins.

9. With regard to heating fuels, we support building codes for new construction that incorporate the best available energy conservation designs. New construction should be required to achieve substantial portions of its heating energy from the sun. For existing homes and buildings, we support programs to aid in their weatherization and increased energy efficiency.

10. We oppose further oil and gas drilling or exploration on our nation’s outer continental shelf, on our public lands, in the Rocky Mountains, and under the Great Lakes.