The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act creates and extends tax credits for making energy efficiency improvements and generating and using renewable energy. The credits, which amount to $18.5 billion over ten years, are offset by repealing subsidies for oil companies. The tax credits and repeal of oil subsidies were originally part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act but were stripped out of the version of that bill that became law. Specific tax incentives in the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act include $6.6 billion in credits to companies that generate electric power with sources such as wind energy, biomass, geothermal power and hydropower. Businesses and individual homeowners also qualify for a tax credit when they invest in solar power or fuel cells or make energy efficiency improvements to their property. In addition, the legislation authorizes $2 billion of bonds that power providers and electric cooperatives can use to generate renewable electricity and $1.9 billion in bonds for state and municipal programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is a tax credit for purchasing energy-efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles and approximately $450 million in credits for renewable fuels, including biodiesel.
The Middle-Class Position:
The Middle Class Supports: Today, as middle-class consumers struggle with the high costs of gasoline and home heating oil and are increasingly concerned about the threat of global warming, federal incentives that spur energy efficiency and promote renewable energy couldn’t be more timely. By reviving the abandoned provisions of the 2007 energy bill, this legislation offers the substantial public investment necessary to jump start the development and promotion of renewable energy sources and energy-efficient technologies. In the short term, this investment will create jobs producing renewable energy and technology. In the long term, new energy sources and more efficient technology promise environmental and public health benefits, as well as lower costs, for the American middle class. The bill also funds the investments in an appropriate way: by repealing taxpayer subsidies to the oil industry, which is already making booming profits at the expense of middle-class consumers.
From the Experts:
“We urge you to vote yes on the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 (H.R. 5351)… Incentives must be extended immediately to avoid significant harm to the developing clean energy industries in the United States. The technologies produced by these industries play a vital role in reducing global warming pollution, creating new high-wage jobs in our country, and saving consumers and businesses money on their energy bills.” –A coalition of 120 corporations and organizations, including Wal-Mart Stores, Best Buy Co., The Home Depot, Dow Chemical, Sierra Club, National Association of Home Builders, National Wildlife Federation and the United Steelworkers (February 26, 2008)
“Expanding energy efficiency increases jobs… contractor labor in installing efficiency measures in buildings, manufacturing labor in producing the efficiency technologies, and service sector labor in designing more efficient buildings and products… When new energy efficient homes are constructed, the builders and their contractors offer these services through jobs that are located at the site of the construction. These jobs cannot be outsourced…”-David B. Goldstein, Energy Program Director, The Natural Resources Defense Council (April 24, 2007)
Beyond this Bill:
To truly set the nation on the path to a clean energy future, the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act is the logical next step. This bill caps carbon emissions and establishes a renewable electricity standard, both vital steps towards reducing the risk of global warming.
Cost of one barrel of crude oil the day this bill passed the House:$100.83
Date on which President Bush said, “With $55 [per barrel] oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent”: 4/14/2005
Date on which the Bush Administration nevertheless announced that the President would veto this bill: 2/26/2008
Average amount per gallon Americans paid for that gas the week this bill passed the House: $3.18
Profit made by oil company Exxon Mobil every minute in 2007, according to the Center for American Progress: $77,245
Percentage of total U.S. electricity demand that could technically be met by renewable energy resources by 2020, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory: 100
“Clean Energy,” from the Union of Concerned Scientists
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