| OEC's Position on IGCC and clean Energy Production |
Carbon Capture and Storage
(CSS)
CSS shows tremendous potential and should be pursued, but is only a partial solution. Read the fact sheet. (PDF)
Integrated Gassification Cycle (IGCC)
If Ohio chooses to abandon clean coal energy production technology now for short-term cost savings, we will face drastic and debilitating hardship. Read the fact sheet. (PDF)
IGCC, Costs and Jobs
IGCC will be a cheaper method of energy production than traditional pulverized coal in a few years. Read the fact sheet. (PDF)
IGCC vs Powerspan Technology
Powerspan and other infant technologies should be studied and developed, but they must not be the focus of public policy right now. Read the fact sheet. (PDF)
| OEC Endorses Alternative Energy Standard |
The OEC, working to prepare recommendations to the Advanced Energy Standard Collaborative Group, has fully endorsed an Alternative Energy Standard for Ohio. Alternative energy standards (AES) are legally binding statewide mandates for electric utilities, requiring them to produce or purchase a certain percentage of the power they sell in a state from clean renewable or alternative sources. These standards are powerful tools. They spur technological development, green power business, competition among utilities, and improvement in environmental conditions. Real progress is the result of a well thought out and implemented renewables portfolio standard or AES system. A strong Ohio alternative energy standard will promote job growth, help clean our air and water, and make Ohio a renewable production and technology leader.
The Ohio AES should be a three-tiered system including renewables, energy efficiency, and a higher standard for coal:
TIER ONE: wind, solar, biomass, low-impact hydroelectric, wave, and geothermal energy, landfill gas and other methane-gas recovery and digestion applications, and energy produced by micro- turbines in distributed generation applications with high electric efficiencies, by combined heat and power applications
TIER TWO: energy efficiency measures
TIER THREE: higher-standard coal measures, such as IGCC with carbon capture or an equivalent such as coal waste electricity production
Read the fact sheet. (PDF)
OHIO GOVENOR REQUIES ENERGY EFFICENCY FROM AGENCIES, EXPECTS IT FROM COLLEGES |
On January 17 th, 2007 Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed Executive Order 2007-02, establishing an energy advisor to the Governor to coordinate statewide efforts to create jobs through the development of renewable and alternative energies. The order instructs state agencies to immediately implement energy savings policies. In addition, agencies must adopt a single metric and audit system, developed by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services that will track each agency’s energy use and carbon footprint. This measure will replace the old system, in which each agency tracked its energy in a different manner with no individual agency being aware of its carbon footprint.
The executive order also instructs the Ohio Department of Administrative Services to reduce the state’s consumption of gasoline by increasing the number of state vehicles that use alternative fuel sources and prepare plans to establish E85 and biodiesel fuel pumps.
College campus energy use will also be affected. The energy advisor will establish a competition for teams of students, faculty, administrators and staff to develop energy savings initiatives on their campuses.
| OEC Champions Environmental
Impact Labeling Law for Electricity Generation |
Just as your cereal box has a nutritional
information label, your electric bill now has a label which
details its “ingredients” and environmental
impact, thanks to the vigilance and persistence of the OEC.
When Ohio restructured and deregulated the electric industry,
the OEC fought to include a provision that would disclose
to consumers the environmental impact of various sources
of electricity. Under this environmental disclosure program,
electric generation suppliers are required to provide their
customers with labels which indicate the generation resource
mix and environmental characteristics associated with their
electricity. Administered by the Public Utilities Commission
of Ohio through their Ohio Electric Choice program, the
environmental disclosure label is intended to educate consumers
about the source of their electricity and the associated
impacts to our air, land and water.
|
Ohio is poised to become an alternative and renewable energy leader. Our state is blessed with vast renewable and alternative energy resources, and we have the unique intellectual capital and capacity to make real strides and improvements in alternative and renewable energy production. In northwest Ohio, wind energy can produce a veritable windfall in energy savings and profits for Ohio farmers, in southeast Ohio we have coal of grades that are perfect for IGCC coal energy production, a cleaner coal technology, and in central Ohio we have the capacity to sequester vast amounts of carbon in underground geologic formations. Additionally, Ohio has the young minds and the quality university system necessary to fuel the change.