Skinning the Cap-and-Trade Cat with Clean Energy Standards

Nicolas Loris / January 28, 2011

Speaking before a new Congress in his State of the Union address, President Obama gave an alternative suggestion for Congress now that cap and trade is out of the picture. He pitched an aggressive clean energy standard, saying he wants 80 percent of our electricity to come from carbon-free sources of energy by 2035.

For reference, the Energy Information Administration shows that carbon-free sources generated 31 percent of our total electricity in 2009 (20 percent nuclear, 7 percent hydroelectric, and 4 percent other renewables). As Kim Strassel points out in today’s Wall Street Journal, a clean energy standard is cap and trade without the carbon revenue: (more…)