The EPA is likely to set minimum standards of energy efficiency and to mandate the use of particular green technologies, among other things.
Many Senate Republicans--especially in the Southeast where wind power is scarce--aren't comfortable with the "renewable portfolio standard" mandating utilities provide a minimum amount of clean energy production.
So the real controversy is what minimum level of solar energy at 65N is the threshold for the descent into an ice age and how unstable the weather becomes near that threshold.
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Opponents of a Congressional plan to mandate a minimum amount of renewable energy for most utility companies say it will increase the cost of power in states where wind power is not prevalent.
Congress is considering legislation that would effectively tax utilities for their carbon emissions, and the House recently passed a bill that would require that power companies use a minimum amount of renewable energy.
The bid-cost recovery mechanism is supposed to provide make-whole payments that cover start-up and minimum load costs for parties requesting electric energy.
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It includes tax breaks, disaster relief, clean energy tax incentives and a fix to prevent the alternative minimum tax from hitting more than 20 million additional people in 2008.
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With great success, they've sidetracked immigration reform, forced Democrats to abandon their "pay-go" budget rules to contain the expanding alternative minimum tax and saved Big Oil from big energy taxes.
Though many Democrats want to roll back Mr Bush's tax cuts for the rich, the party's energy, at least initially, will be on fixing the alternative minimum tax.
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Dubbed "NEMA Premium"--a standard created last year by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association for motors between 1 hp and 200 hp--these motors offer a few extra percentage points of energy efficiency and sell for roughly 25% more than motors meeting minimum federal standards.
He also repeated other goals of Democrats, including raising the minimum wage, cutting interest rates on student loans, and working for energy independence.
"There is almost no regulation concerning water or power use, no minimum standards for water-consuming appliances ... and very few energy requirements for buildings, " he laments.
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The RPS would require utilities to use a minimum percentage of clean power--such as wind, hydropower or solar energy--in their overall fuel mix, or it would require electric companies to buy renewable credits from each other.
The public finances may be solid (public debt is around 40% of GDP), but the government has been slow to make reforms such as trimming a high minimum wage, reducing the size of the unregistered economy and increasing competition to reduce energy and other costs.
While the risk of stagflation is still a long-term phenomenon, inelastic demand curves for food and energy products could force market participants to feel the sting of rising headline inflation and thus cut back to minimum spending.
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France has imposed a minimum price on carbon, for instance, and Germany and Spain give subsidies directly to renewable-energy firms.
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