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For any carbon policy to reduce GHG emissions effectively while also helping to reduce the cost increases to consumers, the targets and timetables must correspond to the availability of technologies needed to reduce emissions. Setting reasonable and achievable targets will allow the United States to maximize our clean energy and efficiency options while helping to mitigate price increases to consumers.
- Energy efficiency, renewable energy, and natural gas-based generating plants are the resources available to meet near-term targets.
- Medium-term targets should be set in the 10- to 15-year timeframe after enactment of federal legislation, in order to match up with and enable technology development (e.g., new nuclear and advanced coal technologies with carbon capture and storage).
- The longer-term target—80 percent below current levels by 2050—will require all of these technologies for the electric power sector, plus emissions reductions in other sectors of the economy.
To make sharp short- and mid-term emissions reductions without these technologies, electric companies would be forced to switch from using coal to using large amounts of natural gas.
This massive fuel switching would strain natural gas supply, driving up natural gas prices and exposing consumers to sharply higher heating and air conditioning bills. And, industries that use natural gas would be less competitive in global markets, making it even more likely that U.S. jobs would be exported overseas.
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