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Policy

Diverse policies influence—or are affected by—energy supply and use in the Cape & Islands region. These policies range from local building codes and zoning requirements to global agreements established through the United Nations and other international forums.

Market-based economic policies have the greatest impact, giving fossil fuels and other present-day energy sources a competitive advantage that can discourage investment in cleaner and green options: Today's markets fail to fully account for the “true costs” of energy options. The prices paid by consumers do not reflect adverse impacts such as resource depletion, air and water quality degradation, public health risks, national security concerns, and other factors.

Climate change, for example, is a physical manifestation of ecological disruptions attributable to economic failures: Because no meter runs as smokestacks, tailpipes, and additional sources emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, there is no incentive to control these emissions. As global population has increased and energy demands have grown, the volume of heat-trapping gases being released by fossil fuel combustion and other sources has surpassed the carbon uptake and storage capabilities of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Atmospheric chemistry is changing, with effects on climate.

Even though the prices of gasoline, heating fuels, and electricity are increasing, they remain artificially low because they do no reflect such "true cost" impacts. These economic incongruities justify government intervention in other policy arenas to create incentives that promote efficiency and conservation, which temper electricity and fuel demand, and that encourage renewables development and green power purchasing, which can displace fossil fuel consumption directly. (For information on incentives, click here.)

This section will address policy areas such as the following:

Energy & Electricity

• National policy: generally weighted toward fossil fuels for all energy needs and to fossil/nuclear for electricity production, with relatively little emphasis on renewables; generally weighted toward production, with relatively little emphasis on efficiency/conservation; mix of regulated/deregulated markets for electricity
• State policy: deregulated market for electricity supply, Renewable Portfolio Standard, ratepayer-funded efficiency and renewables programs, etc.
• Regional/local plans, policies, and regulations relating to electricity, fuels, efficiency, renewables development, etc.

Environmental & Public Health

• End-of-pipe, command-and-control approach has created major improvements in environmental quality and public health over the past 30 years, and remains critical to sustaining these improvements
• Conventional approach can be inefficient, can create perverse incentives, and can be inadequate in addressing certain types of challenges
• Emerging market-based approaches begin to internalize externalized costs, offering advantages under certain circumstances
• Federal/state air-water policy: NOx, SOx, mercury, CO2, air toxics, particulates, ozone, haze, water withdrawals, etc.
• Regional/local water plans, policies, regulations, etc., especially for nutrient loading, air quality, and mercury contamination

Climate

• Global: UNFCCC, which Bush administration continues to affirm
• International: Kyoto, domestic (e.g., UK), and multilateral (e.g., EU) trading systems
• US: voluntary federal policy
• State: New England/Maritimes action plan, state action plan, state cap-and-trade program, state withdrawal from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• Local: Barnstable and Falmouth participation in the Cities for Cliimate Portection - ICLEI

Transportation

• National
• Regional
• Local