In addition to the Economic Investment component, the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy also involves ending large-scale, old-growth timber harvest and focusing resources to support forest restoration, recreation, climate resilience, and sustainable young-growth management. Danielle Jackson, EPA Report Applauds Waste-to-Energy Plants, Waste Age magazine, June 25, 2002, http://wasteage.com/news/waste_epa_report_applauds/. We are a nonpartisan climate policy think tank helping policymakers make informed energy policy choices and accelerate clean energy by supporting the policies that most effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.eia.doe.gov/glossary/glossary_g.htm. Despite ambitious long-term climate announcements, Southeast utilities are still heavily reliant on expensive-to-run coal plants and are doubling down on risky new gas infrastructure investments, instead of clean technologies of the future. Aided by a well-established, supportive portfolio of policies in nearly every Northeastern state, the region ranks second in the nation for both solar power . While the rate of underperformance was least severe in the Southeast (reported at 17% below the U.S. average), that region is the most prone to anomalies driven by physical damage (such as cracking, delamination, or . In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is one of the countries most dependent on fossil fuels,. The commitment identifies short investments that reflect diverse investment opportunities and needs in the Southeast Region. Burning approximately one million tons of biomass annually, Plant Mitchell would be one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States.51, Collection of waste wood for biomass power plants may require a coordinated effort with forestry companies. It conducted targeted engagement with key partners and provided opportunities for citizens and organizations to participate in shaping the economic investment component of the strategy. VCEs WIS:dom model also incorporates electricity distribution infrastructure savings from deploying distributed storage and solar resources. In addition to looking at replacing generation with wind or solar, Energy Innovation looked at pairing local solar resources with battery storage to replace some or all of the capacity of each coal plant without costing more than the continued operation of the plant. Virginia has a statewide program to convert coal plants to biomass, with several plants that converted during 2013. To this effect, IRENA and the ASEAN Centre for Energy find that $290 billion of . The investments in the three regional strengthening agreements are a critical component of the full $25 million commitment, now fulfilled, which is part of USDAs promise to serve the broader economy of Southeast Alaska and continue to be part of an inclusive, responsive partnership that complements existing efforts toward practical, common-sense solutions. Senator Bingaman discussion draft, Title VIII, Renewable Portfolio Standard, 111th Congress. The definition of which types of biomass are eligible under an RES would determine which resources, technologies and processes will be available to meet a possible federal RES mandate. Since the time of the first nomadic hunter-gatherer societies, wood has been collected for cooking fires and heating. Dana Kenney, Chief of Party for USAID Clean Power Asia, said, USAID Clean Power Asia collaborated with local and international partners to share lessons learned and best practices to overcome policy and technical barriers that have limited the deployment of clean energy technologies to support increasing demands for electricity, which are set to double by 2040. Energy demand in Southeast Asia has increased on average by around 3% a year over the past two decades, and this trend continues to 2030 under today's policy settings in the STEPS. Competition alone, however, will not achieve the rapid electricity sector decarbonization needed to avoid climate changes worst impacts. 65. The American Renewable Energy Act, H.R. USDA Forest Service photo. However, numerous studies have found that renewable energy development has a negative impact on the . With biomass representing the most widely used (and ostensibly the least expensive) renewable energy resource in the United States, its potential use in meeting RES requirements is key to the success of any RES that may be enacted. These markets are far from perfect in practice, but have directly connected customers to least-cost renewable energy. Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. The definition of biomass would be critical to determining which technologies and processes would be available to meet possible RES requirements. However, the regions major user of woody biomass and producer of wood wastes is the forest products industry. Retrieved from Raysonho . The latest on SEEM, FERC, and the impact on renewable energy The coalition of Southern utilities petitioning to form a new market exchange has responded to a second deficiency letter from FERC. In contrast, the current utility-led planning regime is an inefficient patchwork system. Much of the Southeast region's biomass electricity capacity comes from existing forest products cogeneration facilities which would not qualify for tradable RECs under the RPS proposal floated by Senator Bingaman.54 The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is concerned that if this option is followed, a financial advantage could be given to new biomass energy generators at the expense of its member companies because of the added value of tradable RECs.55 Forest products companies are the primary users of biomass for manufacturing purposes. Approximately 53% of all domestic renewable energy comes from biomass sources3 represented by biofuels, landfill gas, biogenic4 municipal solid waste, wood and wood-derived fuels, and other biomass such as switchgrass. Since 2016, the USAID Clean Power Asia program has worked with governments and the private sector across Southeast Asia to encourage power sector investments in environmentally friendly, grid-connected renewable energy sources. Many consider carbon dioxide emissions from biomass sources as practically neutral, because biomass sources take in carbon dioxide during their growing cycle and release it when burned.17 Renewable energy is seen as a way to reduce fossil fuel use, and with growing awareness of the potential impacts of climate change, the role of renewable energy in reducing carbon emissions has garnered increasing public support. The development of renewable energy projects in the region is an expensive bill for most Southeast Asian countries to foot. For more on Fischer-Tropsch technologies, see CRS Report RL34133, Fischer-Tropsch Fuels from Coal, Natural Gas, and Biomass: Background and Policy, by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]. The issue of whether there is enough biomass to meet both an RES and RFS is beyond the scope of this report.   U.S. Energy Project in Southeast Asia Increased Renewable Energy Investments by $7 Billion, USAID and FHI 360 join PMAC to enhance data integration in decision-making at the climate-health nexus, United States Launches SERVIR-Southeast Asia, a USAID-NASA Initiative to Fight Climate Change, USAID Smart Infrastructure for the Mekong Program Restores Fish Passage Across the Mekong, USAID, DNP, and WildAid Launch Media Campaign to End Demand for Ivory Products. http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/enews/enews_0505/enews_0505_Cellulosic_Ethanol.htm. In the southeast region especially, biomass may be the most readily available opportunity for meeting RES goals, but compliance may still be a challenge. The Southeastern United States, one of the countrys only regions without a competitive wholesale electricity market, is dominated by monopoly utilities, which have favored expensive and polluting fossil fuel generation over cheap clean energy. Renewable energy currently accounts for about 10% of U.S. total energy production according to the U.S. Department of Energy.1 Biomass is the largest source of renewable energy2 in the United States. Wood wastes from saw mills is a primary source of energy used by the biopower industry in its power plants, but if sufficient numbers of these mills go out of business, then the economics of biopower operations could change.52 There is little doubt that logging operations leave behind considerable waste wood in the forests, but going into the forest specifically to collect wood wastes may not be cost effective for biopower companies.53. The strategy prioritizes USDA resources and capacity to better serve the broader economy of Southeast Alaska. In Alabama, for example, people of color are exposed to roughly twice as much PM 2.5 pollution as white people. The use of cellulosic fiber from trees to make paper is a primary use of wood, rivaling other forest product uses such as lumber for buildings and furniture products. CRS Report R40529, Biomass: Comparison of Definitions in Legislation, by Kelsi S. Bracmort and [author name scrubbed]. Biomass has been characterized by advocates for an RES in the Southeast (i.e., Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) as the region's main renewable resource which could be used to meet a standard. 796 (17)(E)]. Proponents of an RES assert that the Southeast has ample biomass resources to meet renewable energy requirements of an RES. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jul/23/germany.greenbusiness. National Museum of American History, The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act - Government Involvement to Remedy Energy Crisis: PURPA, http://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/past/history4.htm. Measuring the Economics of Biofuel Availability. March 6, 2009. See page 4 of presentation at http://files.eesi.org/cleaves_030409.pdf. "There have been at least three different proposals back and forth," Stupak said in a short interview yesterday. Governments Across Southeast Asian Countries Are Accelerating Renewable Energy Investments With increasing global environmental concerns, governments across Southeast Asian countries plan. The difference between these two types of resources is that renewable resources can naturally replenish themselves while nonrenewable resources cannot. The OneUSDA team is continuing to work with Tribal Nations, Alaska Native corporations, and other partners to distribute all funds in 2022. Renewables were used to meet 5 percent of Southeast power sales in 2006, according to the paper, which defines the region as Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and.