Skip to main content
MIT
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
PostAugust 24, 2021

The $3.5 trillion budget bill could transform the US power sector—and slash climate pollution

Solar Pannels

In the coming weeks, Congress may pass one of the most important climate policies in US history.

The $3.5 trillion budget plan includes a provision known as the Clean Electricity Payment Program, which would use payments and penalties to encourage utilities to increase the share of electricity they sell from carbon-free sources each year. If it works as hoped, the legislation would ensure that the power sector generates 80% of its electricity from sources like wind, solar, and nuclear plants by 2030, cutting more than a billion tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions.

The measure would mark a foundational step in President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate plan, which aims to put the nation on track to eliminate climate pollution from electricity generation by 2035—and achieve net-zero emissions across the economy by midcentury.

There are real questions, though, about whether the program will achieve its aggressive targets. How the nation’s complex electricity sector actually responds will depend heavily on how the agency that oversees the program implements it, and particularly where it sets the payments and penalties, some economists say.

It’s also still unclear if the measure will pass in anything like its current form—or at all.

Read the full article at: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/23/1032393/the-3-5-trillion-budget-bill-could-transform-the-us-power-sector-and-slash-climate-pollution/

Image credits: Getty

Share
facebook linkedin twitter email compact
by MIT Technology Review
Topics
Cities & Planning
Energy
Electrification
Energy Efficiency
Renewable Energy
Government & Policy
Industry & Manufacturing

Related Posts

PostMarch 22, 2023

Exploring a Suitable Business Model for Nuclear Batteries

MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
PostMarch 15, 2023

Minimizing electric vehicles’ impact on the grid

MIT News
MIT researchers have found that, by encouraging the placing of charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in strategic ways, as well as setting up systems to initiate car charging at delayed times, electric vehicles could have less impact on the power grid.
PostMarch 13, 2023

Responding to the Climate Threat: Essays on Humanity’s Greatest Challenge...

MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
Responding to the Climate Threat: Essays on Humanity’s Greatest Challenge
PostMarch 10, 2023

Engaging enterprises with the climate crisis

MIT News
John Sterman and colleagues offer a suite of well-honed strategies to smooth this journey, including a free global climate policy simulator called En-ROADS.

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
Environmental Solutions Initiative
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA 02139-4307
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner