A新的WRI studyfinds that there are many“双赢”机会为了使美国减少排放并为消费者和企业节省资金。在接下来的几周，我们的博客系列Lower Emissions, Brighter Economy, will evaluate these opportunities across five key areas—power generation, electricity consumption, passenger vehicles, natural gas systems, and hydrofluorocarbons—which together represent 55 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

电力部门是美国温室气体排放的最大来源，构成了总计的32％。And while the grid is starting to decarbonize—carbon dioxide emissions from the sector dropped 15 percent between 2005 and 2013—the country still has much further to go to limit sea level rise, drought, and other effects of climate change.

好消息是，我们已经在全国范围内看到了示例，这些例子转向更清洁的动力来源，例如天然气和可再生能源，可以节省金钱，遏制气候变化并改善公共卫生。必威官网是真的吗

Natural Gas Is Cheaper than Coal

供应量增加和天然气价格降低，已经在减少煤炭发电和温室气体排放。煤炭仅占自2000年以来新容量的5％，而天然气占74％。

这种趋势可能会继续。与新的燃煤电厂相比，新的天然气厂的建造便宜19％至44％。加，upcoming environmental regulations为了保护公共卫生，可能会导致未来几年的燃煤电厂退休浪潮，这可能会刺激更清洁的动力系统（例如天然气，可再生能源和能源效率）。

Renewables Offer Cost and Climate Benefits

While natural gas burns cleaner than coal, it stillemits both methane and carbon dioxide， 领导many to questionits long-term role in a low-carbon power system. So it’s encouraging that new wind energy is cheaper than new coal generation—and sometimes even natural gas—in most markets. New solar photovoltaic projects are also being chosen over new coal and gas generation in a few areas of the country because of lower costs or larger net benefits.研究shows可再生能源发电的潜力有可能与目前的电力选项相比，每年在某些地区挽救美国纳税人。

Here are a few examples where customers are already seeing these savings:

  • 2014年初，明尼苏达州公用事业委员会选择了一个100兆瓦的太阳能项目，而不是天然气，因为它将带来更好的经济和环境回报，包括消除传输成本。

  • Increased wind energy reduced electricity rates by about 4 percent per megawatt hour for Illinois Power Agency customers, generating a statewide savings of more than $175 million.

  • Oregon’s second-largest utility, PacifiCorp, reported that investments in renewable energy helped lower their total costs by $6.6 million in 2011.

尽管联邦税收激励措施和州政策（例如可再生投资组合标准）有助于扩大可再生能源的规模，但技术的改进也使该行业向前迈进。例如，自2008年以来，太阳能光伏面板的价格下降了80％，并且analysts expectthis drop to continue in the years ahead. As for wind, new turbine designs will open up new areas of the country to development, especially in the Southeast.

Getting Over the Hump

在某些情况下，仅市场力量就将企业，政府和消费者推向低碳选择。但是这种过渡可以 -和indeed, must—accelerate为了减少排放和reap associated environmental, health, and economic benefits.

这就是良好政策的发展。电力行业需要长期的监管确定性，以便投资更清洁的能源。立法措施（例如清洁能源标准，温室气税或温室气帽和贸易计划）可以提供帮助。其他方法可以实现相似的结果，例如通过温室气体排放标准新的和existingpower plants, which EPA已经提出了。Additional important policy signals include:

  • States and utilities should ensure that renewable energy providers have access to long-term contracts, which could reduce the average electricity costs of wind and solar projects by 10–15 percent.

  • 当前的联邦税收抵免的设计阻止了某些可再生能源项目开发人员使用其全部价值。国会可以解决这个设计缺陷，以便在不增加对纳税人的成本的情况下，更多的信贷流量（与第三方投资者相反）的价值更多，例如，通过使税收优惠的“可退还”。

  • 可再生项目可以面临高昂的融资成本，因此金融监管机构和贷款机构应共同开发新的投资模型（例如YieldCos或更传统的市政财务）降低了这些成本。

  • Bringing more renewables online can be challenging because the supply varies. States and utilities should update regulations and business models to promote aflexible power gridthat uses more storage, distributed generation, and demand response.

  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should finalizegreenhouse gas standards for new and existing power plants。这些标准可以帮助减少温室气体排放，通过改善空气质量通过提高公共卫生福利，并鼓励对天然气的投资和可再生能源。

  • 自1980年以来，联邦电力部门的研发支出下降了77％，而电力行业本身仅在研发上的收入占0.05％（与制药行业相比11％，计算机和电子产品为8％）。因此，国会应增加对低碳和节能技术的研究，开发和商业化的联邦资金。

收看我们的下一部分Lower Emissions, Brighter Economy, where we’ll explore the economic benefits of reducing electricity demand. Or, download our full publication,Seeing Is Believing: Creating a New Climate Economy in the United States。