Lance Moore
GHG Monitor
7/24/2015
If every state were to invest heavily in energy efficiency and renewable energy, through the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s proposed carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, dubbed the Clean Power Plan (CPP), consumer energy bills could decrease, Synapse Energy Economics found in their own Clean Energy Future scenario report released this week. The report states, "(Synapse) analyzed the impacts of the proposed Clean Power Plan on electricity consumers in every state showed that reducing electricity sector emissions through the addition of energy efficiency and renewable energy actually lowers electricity costs over the long term compared to continuing with existing practices and policies. Moreover, in Synapse’s modeling, the scenario that produced those lower electricity costs achieved a much greater emissions reduction on average than that called for by the proposed Clean Power Plan."
This compliance scenario emphasized cost-effective efficiency and renewable energy investments, as well as a business-as-usual compliance scenario. "The Clean Energy Future scenario meets or exceeds EPA targets in all states and obtains higher levels of total national emission reductions-58 percent below 2005 levels by 2030-compared to the 30 percent reduction achieved by EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan," according to the report, "air emission displacement, high levels of energy efficiency and renewables take the place of fossil fuel generation; the result is the avoidance of substantial emissions. … Even with substantial emission reductions, we found that with participation in energy efficiency programs, the average household can save $35 per month on its electric bills in the Clean Energy Future in 2030 as compared to the high?emissions Reference scenario."
Synapse developed its Clean Energy Future and Reference scenarios using the ReEDS, CAVT, EE SavingsTool, CP3T, and RePRT models together with publicly available data. It then analyzed compliance with EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan and developed two scenarios: a compliance scenario featuring rigorous investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy ("Clean Energy Future"), and a business?as-usual ("Reference") scenario with no new policies to meet EPA targets.
