House passes Climate bill

Been doing some reading of the 'House Climate Bill' or HR 2998 American Clean Energy and Security Act passed Friday June 26th, 2009 219-212. I have to admit it is very dry as with most bills, that and I have been distracted by doing other things today. A couple of interesting points of what I have read / discovered so far. The bill is ~1,500 pages with 300 of those pages added Friday morning at 3AM. A number of people asked to read the updated text when they learned of the amendment and were told a copy was not available at the speaker's desk or elsewhere. Another interesting point I've learned is the DoE once again has power to give money to automakers to help them transitioning to 'cleaner' automobiles. The exact amount of the new loan is from "SEC. 125. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY VEHICLE MANUFACTURING INCENTIVE LOANS." changed from $25B to $50B.


The cartogram right is very interesting depiction of the votes by state and 'Aye', 'Nay'. From looking at this cartogram and other articles I have to wonder how much lobbying took place related to all the Smart Grid provisions in the bill. I know from previous articles both Google and GE have been actively pushing their SmartGrid technologies. In the same section of SmartGrid and electric distribution the bill states "The United States shall take no equity or other ownership interest in the qualified advanced electric transmission manufacturing plant or qualified advanced electric transmission property for which funding is provided under this subsection." I seriously hope they never revoke / undo this clause or we could be in for bigger trouble. As some might recall the Roosevelt administration tried to run the power plants under the TVA...They are however making changes to light bulb requirements. Starting in 2012 any new candelabra base incandescent shot not exceed 60 watts. So, I guess that means Congress knows how much light we need in our rooms to see, read, eat, etc. Additionally the bill also mandates that beginning January 2012 intermediate base incandescent lamps shall not exceed 40 watts.

The bill clears the way for some new jobs for 'Advisory' positions needing to be created for the Energy Technology Advisory Council. Those who are an advisor and do not already draw a salary from the federal government will be paid "for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code" or, from what I can read $58K annum. Unfortunately I have only gotten through 350+ pages of the bill and need to move to some other topics, but my quick take is this bill is not in the best interest of the US. We can expect dramatic changes once this bill reaches the senate and they have had an opportunity to read and improve the bill. One last item which gives me pause is the potential for future problems with the proposed 'cap and trade' of carbon credits and their potential valuation. If this area is not handled properly it could turn into another bubble and companies in-properly placing valuation on their carbon credits.


Well gotta run, but I hope everyone stays cool, in the Austin area we tied another heat record today at 105 :-(.



Bryan Karp - from http://www.bryankarp.com/