clair031

Summary.   Just prior to entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 the European Union adopted a cap-and-trade market mechanism, the Emissions Trading System, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.   The System has three phases of operation between 2005 and 2020, the current ending date of the System as devised.   The System covers 11,000 or more individual facilities.   Phase 1, lasting 3 years, was intended as a trial period.   It suffered from problems in implementation which impeded its effectiveness during this interval.   Phase 2 lasts 5 years and is drawing to an end this year.   In Phase 2 the allocation of emission allowances and operation of the allowance market were optimized, and the coverage of emitting sources is expanded.   Phase 3 is to last to 2020.   Its allowances are to decrease each year, so that greenhouse gas emissions necessarily will fall, to a level about 20% lower than 2005. The Emiss...

Summary :   California ’s Global Warming Solutions Act and Executive Order S-3-05 establish the goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases economy-wide in the state by 80% below the level of 1990 by 2050.   The California Science and Technology Council, a non-official group, issued its report, “ California ’s Energy Future: The View to 2050”, providing a detailed analysis of the state’s current energy landscape, and proposed bold measures to attain the 80% reduction goal. They found that a 60% reduction was attainable using technologies currently available or ready for scale-up.   A major contributor to this goal is enhancing the energy efficiency of the economy, including fixed buildings and transportation.   Additional components include a) replacing the end use of fossil fuels with electricity and the concomitant elimination of carbon dioxide emissions using carbon capture and sequestration, b) commissioning new nuclear power plants, and c) using renewable ene...