Topicality Two

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TopicalityWilliam Huang

DDI 08Kernoff/Olney

TOC

TOC ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................1

RPS Topical ..................................................................................................................................................................................................2

Regulations Topical ......................................................................................................................................................................................3

Negative Incentives Topical .........................................................................................................................................................................4

Mandatory Untopical ..................................................................................................................................................................... ...... ...... ..6

Mandatory Untopical ..................................................................................................................................................................... ...... ...... ..7

Limits ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................8

USFG Cant Incentivize Itself ............................................................................................................................................ ...... .................10

Mandatory =/= Voluntary ...........................................................................................................................................................................12

Only Cash is Topical ..................................................................................................................................................................................13

Taxes Are Topical .......................................................................................................................................................................................14

Incentives Are Economic ....................................................................................................................................................................... ....15

Cap And Trade not Topical ....................................................................................................................................................... .................16

Command and Control not Topical ............................................................................................................................................................18

Cap and Trade Topical ........................................................................................................................................................................... ....19

Cap and Trade Topical ........................................................................................................................................................................... ....20

Incentives are Positive and Negative .........................................................................................................................................................21

Incentives are Vague ................................................................................................................................................................... ...... ...... ...22

AT: Its Logical ........................................................................................................................................................................... ...... ...... ...23

Incentives =/= Tax Credits .........................................................................................................................................................................24

Regulation =/= Bans ..................................................................................................................................................................................25Alternatives Exclude Nuclear ....................................................................................................................................................................26

Alternatives Exclude Nuclear ....................................................................................................................................................................27

Alternatives = Nontraditional (list) ............................................................................................................................................................28

Alternatives Include Nuclear .....................................................................................................................................................................29

Alt =/= Renewable .....................................................................................................................................................................................30

Alternative ..................................................................................................................................................................................................31

Energy .................................................................................................................................................................................................... ....38

Incentives ...................................................................................................................................................................................................39

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RPS TopicalRPS is an alternative energy incentive

JoshuaFershee, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law, 2008, EnergyLaw Journal, Changing Resources, Changing Market: The Impact of a National Renewable PortfolioStandard on the U.S. Energy Industry L/N

As might be expected, the retail electric suppliers in states with an RPS are expected to account for the bulk of the renewable energygenerating capacity in the United States. n97 It is clear that RPS states have built, and are building, more renewable energy generationfacilities than non-RPS states, but it is not clear to what extent this is the result of an RPS policy. That is, an RPS policy providesincentives for building new renewable generation capacity, but other factors, especially the availability of renewable energy resources,also play a significant role. n98

RPS and renewable credits provide an incentive for alternative energy

JoshuaFershee, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law, 2008, Energy

Law Journal, Changing Resources, Changing Market: The Impact of a National Renewable PortfolioStandard on the U.S. Energy Industry L/N

The mere existence of a national RPS would provide some incentive for all utilities to invest in renewable generation because thatinvestment would have two markets - the market for its electricity and the market for its RECs - instead of just the market for itselectricity for a traditional generation facility. n107 In [*64] addition, it is likely that power projects will require "more equity, lessdebt, and shorter debt repayment periods" than in the past. n108 "Developers will probably attempt to sign bilateral contracts withlarge end users, marketers, aggregators, and utilities, but contract terms are likely to be shorter than in the past." n109 In fact,"corporate balance-sheet financing may also become more common." n110 If a utility buys RECs and energy from another supplier,there is also a risk that purchase agreement would end up showing as a long-term debt on the utility's balance sheet. n111 Thus, how anational RPS would impact such capital-intensive investments is hard to predict.

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Regulations TopicalIncentives are either financial incentives or regulations

Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, North Carolina State University, 2007,http://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1

What types of renewable energy incentives does DSIRE track?The DSIRE project tracks information on state, utility, local, and selected federal incentives that promote the use of renewable energytechnologies. For more information on federal incentives, seeWhat federal incentives does DSIRE track. On the DSIRE website,

incentives are grouped into two categories as follows:

(1)Financial Incentives: tax incentives, grants, loans, rebates, industry recruitment, bond programs, and production incentives.(2) Rules, Regulations, & Policies: public benefits funds, renewables portfolio standards, net metering, interconnection, extensionanalysis, generation disclosure, contractor licensing, equipment certification, solar/wind access laws, and construction & designstandards (including building energy codes and energy standards for public buildings), required utility green power options, and green

power purchasing/aggregation policies.

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http://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1http://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1#federalhttp://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1#federalhttp://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1#federalhttp://www.dsireusa.org/faq/faq.cfm?&CurrentPageID=9&EE=1&RE=1


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Negative Incentives TopicalEnergy incentives can be positive or negative

Economic Commission for Europe, DRAFT 2006 REVIEW OF STRATEGIES AND POLICIES FOR AIRPOLLUTION ABATEMENT, 11/14/06http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2006/eb/EB/ece.eb.air.2006.4.add.2.e.pdf

1. Positive incentives53. Positive incentives include: grants, subsidies, tax rebates, tax incentives, credit guarantees, soft loans and tradable permits. All ofthese aim to have an impact on individual patterns of consumption and to minimize air pollution and its effects. In Canada, under theWind Power Production Incentive, companies opting for wind generators were eligible for payments of up to 1.2 cents/kilowatt-hour

produced. In Cyprus, since 2004, the owners of vehicles equipped with catalytic converters paid less tax than owners of non-catalyticvehicles. Additionally, the following tax incentives were introduced in November 2003: a 15% discount on the excise duty for carswith CO2 emissions of 150g/km or less and a 10% penalty on cars with CO2 emissions of 275g/km or more. From January 2006 the

purchase of a hybrid car was subsidised by the Government by an amount of 800 CYP (about Euro 1,350) and incentives wereoffered for scrappage of vehicles over 15 years old. InLithuania the Environmental Protection Investment Fund provided subsidies forenvironmental protection projects of up to 350,000 litas (approximately 101,000 euros) over a three-year period. The Fund financed

26 environmental protection projects, 18 of which (70%) were related to pollution reduction, conversion to cleaner fuels, renovation ofhome boilers, installation of air-treatment filters or other energy-saving measures.54. Many Parties used subsidies and other financial incentives to promote the use of renewable energy such as solar power or windturbines, including inAustria,Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. TheCzech Republic reported that itoffered financial support for pilot projects for the supply of alternative energy, especially thermal energy. Subsidies could be obtainedfor the preparation of project documents and for the implementation of projects with a maximum of 100,000 euros over three years.Since July 2005, theNetherlands has stimulated the use of sulphur-free diesel by reducing the tax charged; since June 2005, the

purchase of new diesel-powered cars equipped with soot filters was encouraged through a 600-euro discount on the tax for personalmotor vehicles. Starting in mid-2006, a subsidy for retrofitting a soot filter into existing, trucks, vans, buses, personal cars, diesel

powered locomotives and inland ships would come into force. A subsidy scheme was also in force since 2006 for catalytic convertersfor inland shipping. More than 100 techniques for the reduction of air pollution (e.g. wet scrubbers, desulphurisation processes, low

NOx burners, catalytic reduction system, low emission animal housing systems, etc.) were eligible for fiscal benefits intended tostimulate environmentally friendly technologies.55. In Slovenia, subsidies and soft loans were available for energy efficiency measures and for the use of renewable energy sources forhouseholds (e.g. solar heating technologies, energy efficient windows, biomass heating, heat pumps) and for companies (e.g. biomasstechnologies). The United Kingdom has allocated over 500 million (approximately 740 million euros) between 2002 and 2008 tosupport the development of renewable and low-carbon technologies.56.Austria noted itoffered subsidies for the rehabilitation of old residential buildings in order to reduce their impact on air pollution.Positive incentives in Germany included tax incentives for the use of low sulphur fuels and for renewable energies and federal grantsto promote public transport in municipalities.57. Tradable permits were also being increasingly utilized to minimise emissions. Canadareported it had implemented tradable unitsystems to reduce two toxic substances, tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. At the provincial level, Ontarios cap and tradesystem for NO and SO2 emissions from power plants and British Columbias differentiated fees for industrial polluters werenoteworthy. At the federal level, a cap and trade system to phase out methyl bromide and HCFCs had been introduced. IntheNetherlands, a NOxemission trading system, started in July 2005, was based on performance standard rates. It focused on extraoverall reductions in addition to those resulting from the ELVs set forth in national legislation. Slovakia also had an emissions tradingact for SO2 and CO2.

2. Negative incentives58. Negative incentives include taxes, fees, and various charges. In the Czech Republic, the Air Protection Act imposed fees for air

pollution for the operators of very large, large and medium-sized sources and small stationary sources. For large sources fees werepaid into the State Environmental Fund, which then promoted projects intended primarily to reduce emissions. For small sources, thefees went directly to the municipality and were earmarked for environmental protection. Germany applied a range of dissuasivemarket measures including road user charges for heavy goods transport and emission-based vehicle taxes. Further planned measuresincluded the reduction of the distance-related tax refund for commuters and the equalisation of fuel tax on petrol and diesel. In

Estonia, a plant that emitted more than was stipulated in its permit was subject to higher taxes.59. InLithuania,charges on pollutants discharged to the atmosphere from stationary and mobile pollution sources were introducedthrough the 1991 Law on Pollution Charge. Energy plants with a capacity exceeding 1MW (0.5 MW if solid fuel was used) must

possess an environmental permit. Charges on pollution from stationary sources were paid according to the amount of pollutants

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DDI 08Kernoff/Olneyactually emitted during a reporting period. If the polluter implemented measures to reduce pollutant emissions by at least 5 per centfrom the maximum allowable, it would be exempted from the charge on the pollutants. Exemptions were valid for the period ofimplementation of the air pollution abatement measures, but not more than 3 years.60. In Switzerland, two taxes were introduced in 2000. One was applied to VOCs whereby CHF 3 (approximately 2 euros) per kg ofVOC was to be paid on imports of solvents. The second was on fuel with a sulphur content higher than 0.1%. Another dissuasiveeconomic tool applied in Switzerlandwas the distance-related heavy-duty fee introduced in 2000. This followed the European norms(EURO 1, 2 or 3) according to the emission category. In Slovenia, taxes were applied to waste, depending on the level of methaneemissions.

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Mandatory UntopicalIncentive are positive inducements this excludes requirements

Ann Turnbull et al, professor of Special Education and Courtesy Professor of Law, Co-Director of the BeachCenter on Families and Disability, University of Kansas, 2001

The term "incentive" is different from the term "requirement." An incentive is a positive reason for acting; a requirement is a legalduty to act. The differ-ence in meaning is consistent with our argument above that the PBS provisions do create a presumption in favorof that technology.

Negative ground they make the topic bidirectional, including disincentives means we need an entirenew category of negative arguments because the stick approach is radically distinct from the carrot

Fred Harris, 1989, professor of law at the University of Illinois, Automobile Emissions Control Inspectionand Maintenance Program: Making It More Palatable to Coerced Participants

53. The term "incentives," for purposes of this Article, means those devices that induce one into doing something because of theprospect of reward and, therefore, engender a positive feeling within the actor. An example of incentives in this sense would be tax

incentives like credits and/or deductions. But it appears that Congress, some courts and a few commentators have taken a broader viewof incentives and have categorized items such as extensions to compliance deadlines and, most notably, sanctions in the Act-denials offederal grants and bans on construction in the event of noncompliance-as incentives to compliance. To be sure, these latter items mayinduce compliance but surely not because of the extension of a "carrot." Instead,they epitomize the "stick" or "disincentive" approachto behavioral modification.

Incentives even broadly defined must be positive.

Duncan Knowler, UN Food and Agricultural Organization, 1999, Incentive Systems for Natural ResourceManagement: The Role of Indirect Incentives, ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/x2247e/x2247e00.pdf)

1.8 Incentives may be broadly defined, as in everything that motivates or stimulates people to act (Giger 1996). What is importantabout such a broad definition is that it allows for incentives to be of either a passive or an active nature. In the former case, we can

think of incentives as signals in the producers environment which influence decision-making about farming practices, whetherintended or otherwise. Many macroeconomic policies, being remote from the producer and targeted at objectives other thanpromoting sustainable farming practices, would fit into this category. In contrast, the notion of active refers to a governments abilityto actually design or modify policies with a desire to bring about certain conservation outcomes. McNeely (1988), for example, refersto this concept of incentive when he defines incentives as any inducement which is specifically intended to incite or motivategovernments, local people, and international organizations (p.38-39). We draw this distinction because of the need to consider bothactive and passive aspects when assessing the importance of incentives for NRM. While governments may be most concerned withthe design of good policies aimed at improving NRM, they need to be cognizant of the sometimes counterproductive influenceexerted by a poor incentive structure, in the passive sense.1.9 McNeely (1988) also makes the useful distinction between incentives, disincentives and perverse incentives.In contrast toincentives, which we have described above, disincentives are purposely designed to discourage particular behaviours and can includetaxes, fines and various other penalties or moral suasion. For purposes of this study, we will not consider disincentives as distinctfrom incentives per se, but it is useful to be aware of the distinction. In contrast, perverse incentives incite resource users to damageor deplete the resources in question in a socially inefficient manner and are closely related to the concept of policy failure, which isdiscussed in Chapter 2.

Incentives are subsidies and financial assistance

Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy, 2001, Renewable Energy 2000: Issues and Trends, February, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ftproot/renewables/06282000.pdf

The term incentive is used instead of subsidy. Incentives include subsidies in addition to other Government actions where theGovernments financial assistance is indirect. A subsidy is, generally, financial assistance granted by the Government to firms andindividuals.

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Mandatory Untopical

Incentives are an offer of value meant to alter a course of action

Ruth Grant, professor of political science at Duke, 2002, The ethics of incentives: Historical Origins and

contemporary understandings, Economics and Philosophy, ProquestIncreasingly in the modern world, incentives are becoming the tool we reach for when we wish to bring about change. In governmentin education, in health care, between and within institutions of all sorts, incentives are offered to steer people's choices in certaindirections. But despite the increasing interest in ethics and economics, the ethics of the use of incentives has raised very littleconcern. From a certain point of view, this is not surprising. When incentives are viewed from the perspective of market economics,they appear to be entirely unproble-matic. An incentive is an offer of something of value, sometimes with a cash equivalent andsometimes not, meant to influence the payoff structure of a utility calculation so as to alter a person's course of action. In otherwords, the person offering the incentive means to make one choice more attractive to the person responding to the incentive than anyother alternative. Both parties stand to gain from the resulting choice. In effect, it is a form of trade, and as such, it meets certainethical requirements by definition. A trade involves voluntary action by all parties concerned to bring about a result that is beneficial toall parties concerned. If these conditions were not met, the trade would simply not occur. And as inducements in a voluntarytransaction, incentives certainly have the moral high ground over coercion as an alternative.

Taxing bad behavior is an incentive

David Driesen, Assistant Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., Yale University Spring1998, Is emissions trading an economic incentive program?: Replacing the command andcontrol/economic incentive dichotomy, Washington and Lee Law reviewhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3655/is_199804/ai_n8791954/print

A. Taxes The government may tax pollution* to create an economic incentive to reduce pollution.6 In order for a tax to encourageinnovation and superior environmental performance, it must have several characteristics.*' First, the tax must apply to activities offirms that already comply with all applicable emission limitations, or that have no applicable limitations. Second, the tax must exceedthe marginal costs of making additional reductions.zzs A tax that lacks these features creates insufficient incentives to reduceemissions below current levels.29

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LimitsDefining incentives broadly creates conceptual confusion and makes anything an incentive

Ruth Grant, professor of political science at Duke, 2002, The ethics of incentives: Historical Origins andcontemporary understandings, Economics and Philosophy, Proquest

This history also allows us to define more clearly what ìncentives' means. Currently, the term is used so broadly that it is often almostsynonymous with motivation altogether. But, despite its current quite general usage, a distinctive specific meaning of the termremains, one that is easier to identify after taking this historical journey. The specific meaning can be illustrated by identifying thosesituations where only the word ìncentive' will do. Very often, the term is now used where another would do equally well. Forexample, ìncentive' is sometimes used as if it were a synonym for `reward', but they do not mean exactly the same thing. A reward or

punishment, unlike an incentive or disincentive, is understood to be merited or deserved. Offering a reward may serve as a motivatoror incentive to action, but the two are quite distinct in principle. People can win awards, for example, without even knowing inadvance that they were eligible. They deserve the reward, and there is no element of motivation involved at all.Similarly, incentive' is sometimes used as if it were synonymous with motivation' generally speaking. But there are several importantsorts of motivation that are not suggested by the term. When we speak in this way, we implicitly deny the phenomena of habitual

behavior, or action motivated by a sense of responsibility or of the reasonableness of a course of action (with reasonableness hereunderstood as something other than individual utility maximization), or the way in which a role model or ideal can serve asmotivator. Action which is initiated by the individual or understood as internally motivated is not really compre-hended in the conceptof motivation as incentive. Incentives are external prompts to which the individual responds.The use of ìncentives' to speak of market forces is also problematic, though it is easy to see the logic of this development within thelanguage of economics. If one company lowers the price of its product, we might readily say that other companies now have anincentive to lower theirs. But we would not say that the first company offered all other companies an incentive to lower their

prices.55 Market forces are not conscious and intentional, and their rationale is intrinsic to the economic process itself. We might justas well say in this situation that the first company's lower price is a good reason for other companies to lower theirs given that theyneed to remain competitive. The term ìncentive' says nothing that `reason' cannot say as well in this case. A similar logic applies tospeaking of loan conditions as incentives. The International Monetary Fund may make a loan to a nation only on condition that it alterits inflationary policies. If the reason for the condition is intrinsic to the IMF's own financial aims, ìncentive' may be a misnomer.The situation is like that of requiring a certain training as a condition for the practice of medicine; we would be unlikely to refer tothis as an ìncentive' to go to medical school for people who wish to become doctors.56 When the IMF is criticized for usingfinancial incentives unethically to control the internal policies of borrowing nations, it is because the critics suspect that its real

purposes are political rather than strictly limited to the legitimate concern to secure the financial health of the Fund.The distinction between market forces and incentives can be illustrated further by considering the difference between wages ascompensation and incentives as bonuses in employment. Compensation means rendering equal', a `recompense or equivalent',`payment for value received or service rendered', or something which `makes up for a loss' as in the term ùnemploymentcompensation'. Compensation equalizes or redresses a balance, and so, to speak of `fair compensation' is entirely sensible. But tospeak of a `fair incentive' is not. An incentive is a bonus, which is defined as something more than usually expected, that is,something that exceeds normal compensation. It is an amount intentionally added to the amount that would be set by the automaticand unintentional forces of the market. An incentive is also a motive or incitement to action, and so an economic incentive offered toan employee is a bonus designed to motivate the employee to produce beyond the usual expectation. It should be obvious then, thatcompensa- tion and incentives are by no means identical. The per diem received for jury service, for example, is a clear case ofcompensation which is not an incentive in any sense.It is not difficult to see how it might have happened that the boundaries were blurred between the specific conception of incentives

and conceptions of the automatic price and wage-setting forces of the market. Both can be subsumed under very general notions ofthe factors that influence our choices or motivate action, and ìncentives' carries this general meaning as well. Nonetheless, the

blurring of that boundary creates a great deal of confusion. Incentives, in fact, are understood better in contradistinction to marketforces than as identical to them. It is only by maintaining a clear view of their distinctive character that the ethical and politicaldimensions of their use are brought to light. Moreover, conceptual clarity and historical understanding go hand in hand in this case. Itshould no longer be surprising to find that the term ìncentives' is not used by Adam Smith in first describing the operation of themarket, but appears instead at a time when the market seemed inadequate in certain respects to the demands presented by changingeconomic circumstances. Other eighteenth and nineteenth- century ideas, often taken as simple precursors of contemporary analysesof incentives, can now be seen in their distinctive character as well. For example, Hume and Madison offer an analysis of institutionaldesign which differs significantly from institutional incentives', though the two are often confused. These thinkers were concernedwith preventing abuses of power. They sought to tie interest to duty through institutional mechanisms to thwart destructive, self-

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DDI 08Kernoff/Olneyserving passions and to secure the public good. Contemporary institutional analyses, by contrast, proceed without the vocabulary ofduty or public good and without the exclusively preventive aim. Institutional incentives are viewed as a means of harnessingindividual interests in pursuit of positive goals.57 Similarly, early utilitarian discussions, Bentham's in particular, differ markedlyfrom twentieth century discussions of incentives despite what might appear to be a shared interest in problems of social control.Again, Bentham is interested entirely in prevention of abuses or infractions of the rules. The rationale for his panopticon is based onthe observation that prevention of infractions depends upon a combination of the severity of punishment and the likelihood ofdetection.58 If the latter could be increased to one hundred per cent, through constant super- vision and inspection, punishmentwould become virtually unnecessary. This is a logic that has nothing whatever to do with the logic of incentives as a means ofmotivating positive choices or of encouraging adaptive behavior.

Their interpretation unlimits deviating from the federal definition of alternative energy means alternativetypes of oil and natural gas use are also topical

RussellHasan, President of the Altenews Company, no date, Introduction to Alternative Energy,http://www.altenews.com/Alternative%20Energy%20Overview.pdf

Aside from renewable energy, there are also alternative energy areas in oil and natural gas, which consists of alternative oil and gasexploration. The traditional reserves of oil and natural gas are becoming depleted, and the global economys insatiable demand forenergy will make previously untapped reserves of oil and natural gas highly profitable. Alternative oil and gas exploration will find

and exploit deposits of oil and gas that will help serve to supply energy to the global demand as resources become scarce. Thevarious forms of alternative oil and gas exploration include oil sand, shale oil, basin centered gas accumulation, tight gas, and coal bedmethane, as well as other areas.Two kinds of alternative oil exploration are oil sand, which is also called tar sand, and shale oil. Oil sand is a kind of sand from whichoil can be extracted. There are large oil sand reserves in western Canada, centered in the Alberta region, so much so that it makesCanada a major potential source of oil on equal footing with the Middle East, and the exploration of oil sand is a very hot area. Agrowing oil extraction infrastructure has grown up around the Canadian oil sands, and there are many opportunities in that area.Shale oil is another kind of energy consisting of oil pressed from shale. There are shale oil reserves in Utah and elsewhere, and this isa very interesting field. Companies are competing for the rights to develop shale oil, and as the infrastructure comes on line shale oilcould produce a lot of oil. Oil sand and shale oil represent sources of oil that have not been previously tapped, and if the oil can beextracted through cost effective methods then oil sand and shale oil could become highly profitable, as they will produce oil fromnontraditional reserves that have not been depleted in a future when most traditional resources will have run out. This area is veryexciting for energy companies as the traditional sources of oil dry up, and there are many companies currently working to exploit oilsand and shale oil reserves.Methods of alternative natural gas exploration include basin centered gas accumulation, in which gas in a basin is extracted, tight gas,in which the gas is difficult to get to, coal bed methane, in which natural gas is extracted from coal beds, and gas to liquidtechnology, in which natural gas from distant locations is converted to a liquid for the purpose of transportation. It should be notedthat natural gas is the cleanest of all the fossil fuels in terms of the toxic emissions released when it is burned, and it can be useful forelectricity generation and home heating. These technologies should be closely watched as traditional oil and gas reserves becomedepleted.

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USFG Cant Incentivize ItselfIncentives are a negotiated offer external to the agent offering it this means the federal government

cant offer incentives to itselfRuth Grant, professor of political science at Duke, 2002, The ethics of incentives: Historical Origins andcontemporary understandings, Economics and Philosophy, Proquest

Similarly, incentive' is sometimes used as if it were synonymous with motivation' generally speaking. But there are several importantsorts of motivation that are not suggested by the term. When we speak in this way, we implicitly deny the phenomena of habitual

behavior, or action motivated by a sense of responsibility or of the reasonableness of a course of action (with reasonableness hereunderstood as something other than individual utility maximization), or the way in which a role model or ideal can serve asmotivator. Action which is initiated by the individual or understood as internally motivated is not really compre-hended in the conceptof motivation as incentive. Incentives are external prompts to which the individual responds.The use of ìncentives' to speak of market forces is also problematic, though it is easy to see the logic of this development within thelanguage of economics. If one company lowers the price of its product, we might readily say that other companies now have anincentive to lower theirs. But we would not say that the first company offered all other companies an incentive to lower their

prices.55 Market forces are not conscious and intentional, and their rationale is intrinsic to the economic process itself. We might justas well say in this situation that the first company's lower price is a good reason for other companies to lower theirs given that theyneed to remain competitive. The term ìncentive' says nothing that `reason' cannot say as well in this case. A similar logic applies tospeaking of loan conditions as incentives. The International Monetary Fund may make a loan to a nation only on condition that it alterits inflationary policies. If the reason for the condition is intrinsic to the IMF's own financial aims, ìncentive' may be a misnomer.The situation is like that of requiring a certain training as a condition for the practice of medicine; we would be unlikely to refer tothis as an ìncentive' to go to medical school for people who wish to become doctors.56 When the IMF is criticized for usingfinancial incentives unethically to control the internal policies of borrowing nations, it is because the critics suspect that its real

purposes are political rather than strictly limited to the legitimate concern to secure the financial health of the Fund.The distinction between market forces and incentives can be illustrated further by considering the difference between wages ascompensation and incentives as bonuses in employment. Compensation means rendering equal', a `recompense or equivalent',`payment for value received or service rendered', or something which `makes up for a loss' as in the term ùnemploymentcompensation'. Compensation equalizes or redresses a balance, and so, to speak of `fair compensation' is entirely sensible. But tospeak of a `fair incentive' is not. An incentive is a bonus, which is defined as something more than usually expected, that is,something that exceeds normal compensation. It is an amount intentionally added to the amount that would be set by the automaticand unintentional forces of the market. An incentive is also a motive or incitement to action, and so an economic incentive offered toan employee is a bonus designed to motivate the employee to produce beyond the usual expectation. It should be obvious then, thatcompensa- tion and incentives are by no means identical. The per diem received for jury service, for example, is a clear case ofcompensation which is not an incentive in any sense.It is not difficult to see how it might have happened that the boundaries were blurred between the specific conception of incentivesand conceptions of the automatic price and wage-setting forces of the market. Both can be subsumed under very general notions ofthe factors that influence our choices or motivate action, and ìncentives' carries this general meaning as well. Nonetheless, the

blurring of that boundary creates a great deal of confusion. Incentives, in fact, are understood better in contradistinction to marketforces than as identical to them. It is only by maintaining a clear view of their distinctive character that the ethical and politicaldimensions of their use are brought to light. Moreover, conceptual clarity and historical understanding go hand in hand in this case. Itshould no longer be surprising to find that the term ìncentives' is not used by Adam Smith in first describing the operation of themarket, but appears instead at a time when the market seemed inadequate in certain respects to the demands presented by changing

economic circumstances. Other eighteenth and nineteenth- century ideas, often taken as simple precursors of contemporary analysesof incentives, can now be seen in their distinctive character as well. For example, Hume and Madison offer an analysis of institutionaldesign which differs significantly from institutional incentives', though the two are often confused. These thinkers were concernedwith preventing abuses of power. They sought to tie interest to duty through institutional mechanisms to thwart destructive, self-serving passions and to secure the public good. Contemporary institutional analyses, by contrast, proceed without the vocabulary ofduty or public good and without the exclusively preventive aim. Institutional incentives are viewed as a means of harnessingindividual interests in pursuit of positive goals.57 Similarly, early utilitarian discussions, Bentham's in particular, differ markedlyfrom twentieth century discussions of incentives despite what might appear to be a shared interest in problems of social control.Again, Bentham is interested entirely in prevention of abuses or infractions of the rules. The rationale for his panopticon is based onthe observation that prevention of infractions depends upon a combination of the severity of punishment and the likelihood ofdetection.58 If the latter could be increased to one hundred per cent, through constant super- vision and inspection, punishment

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Mandatory =/= VoluntaryThere is a contextual difference between mandatory regulations and voluntary incentives

Sam Schoofs, Calvin College, 2004 [ 6 August 2004 A federal Renewable Portfolio Standard: Policy Analysisand Proposal, http://www.wise-intern.org/ journal/2004/WISE2004-SamSchoofsFinalPaper.pdf.]

D. Renewable Energy Policy OverviewThere are two main categories of renewable energy policies. The first category gives some financial incentives to encourage renewableenergy that includes tax incentives, grants, loans, rebates, and production incentives [13]. Tax incentives cover personal, sales,

property, and corporate taxes and they help to reduce the investment costs and to reward investors for their support of renewableenergy sources [12], [13]. As an example, 24 states currently have some form of grant program in place that ranges from as small as$500 up to $1,000,000 [13]. The second category of renewable energy policies is called rules and regulations, which mandate a certainaction from an obligated entity. Included within this category are renewable portfolio standards, equipment certification, solar/windaccess laws, and green power purchasing/aggregation polices [13]. As an example, equipment certification allows the states to regulatethe performance criteria that equipment is required to meet in order to be eligible for financial incentives [12]. Seven states currentlyhave equipment certification programs in place

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Taxes Are TopicalTaxes are incentives


A tax, unlike emissions trading, may offer a continuous incentive for environmental improvement. The operator can always reduce thetax by making additional innovations until the taxed pollution reaches the zero level, at least in theory.244 A significant tax may benecessary to secure management work on developing and implementing innovation.2' But the tax may provide an adequate incentiveto implement further control anytime an innovation shifts the marginal cost of control to a level less than that of the tax.246 If thegovernment adopts pollution taxes, it must enhance monitoring of emissions and enforcement activities." Otherwise, it may allowtaxable pollution to remain untaxed.24 Hence, an enforcement difficulty remains. In sum, taxes may provide a greater incentive forcontinuous innovation than traditional regulations or emissions trading. They do not require governments to set emission levels. Like

emissions trading and traditional regulation, they rely upon difficult government decision making as the stimulant for emissionreductions.2A9

Pollution taxes are incentives


Part IV develops a true economic incentives theory to describe the requisites for programs that will actually induce more innovationand continuous improvement than traditional regulation or emissions trading.31 Pollution taxes may provide continuous incentives forinnovation in theory, but taxes rely upon government decision making as the stimulant for reductions.32 Making economiccompetition to reduce pollution the source of economic incentives, rather than the magnitude of politically-determined fees may do

more to stimulate innovation and continuous improvement.33 Emissions trading has limited utility, because it makes little use ofeconomic incentives, suffers from many of the impediments that frustrate the traditional regulatory system, and creates newenforcement and design difficulties

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Incentives Are EconomicIncentives have to be economic


IV. True Economic Incentives This Part develops a theory of true economic incentives as an alternative to reliance upon repeatedgovernmental decisions concerning the scale of emission reductions. Emissions trading does not provide a meaningful alternative totraditional programs, because it relies upon government decisions about the scale of reductions instead of decentralized responses tocontinuous incentives to reduce pollution. Hence, it makes sense to distinguish true economic incentive programs, programs that relysolely on positive and negative economic inducements to secure reductions, from mixed programs like emissions trading andtraditional regulation, that rely on a combination of negative economic inducements, in the form of monetary penalties fornoncompliance, and government commands.' This Part discusses economic incentive programs that use economic incentives toovercome traditional regulation 's weak stimulation of innovation and continuous improvement. It discusses the classic economicincentive of a pollution tax.u4 While this incentive does create an incentive for continuous improvement, unlike emissions trading, itstill relies largely on government decision making, which may weaken the incentive's ability to stimulate innovation. This Part alsodiscusses the creation of more dynamic economic incentives that rely upon private initiative, rather than government decision making,to drive innovation.

Incentives have to be economic


IV. True Economic Incentives This Part develops a theory of true economic incentives as an alternative to reliance upon repeated

governmental decisions concerning the scale of emission reductions. Emissions trading does not provide a meaningful alternative totraditional programs, because it relies upon government decisions about the scale of reductions instead of decentralized responses tocontinuous incentives to reduce pollution. Hence, it makes sense to distinguish true economic incentive programs, programs that relysolely on positive and negative economic inducements to secure reductions, from mixed programs like emissions trading andtraditional regulation, that rely on a combination of negative economic inducements, in the form of monetary penalties fornoncompliance, and government commands.' This Part discusses economic incentive programs that use economic incentives toovercome traditional regulation 's weak stimulation of innovation and continuous improvement. It discusses the classic economicincentive of a pollution tax.u4 While this incentive does create an incentive for continuous improvement, unlike emissions trading, itstill relies largely on government decision making, which may weaken the incentive's ability to stimulate innovation. This Part alsodiscusses the creation of more dynamic economic incentives that rely upon private initiative, rather than government decision making,to drive innovation.

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Cap And Trade not TopicalCap and trade is not topical, it net decreases incentives


In theory, emissions trading probably weakens net incentives for innovation.2"' If a regulation allows facilities to use trading to meetstandards, the low-cost facilities tend to provide more of the total reductions than they would provide under a comparable traditionalregulation. Conversely, the high-cost facilities will provide less of the total required reductions than they would have under acomparable traditional regulation. The low-cost facilities probably have a greater ability to provide reductions without substantialinnovation than high-cost facilities. A high-cost facility may need to innovate to escape the high costs of routine compliance; the low-cost facility does not have this same motivation. Hence, emissions trading, by shifting reductions from highcost to low-cost facilities,may lessen the incentives for innovation.

Cap and trade reduces incentives


These observations are not meant to suggest that emissions trading is bad. Lowering short-term costs is desirable. But, short-termsavings do not necessarily coincide with the encouragement of technological advancement or long-term savings.220 Significant up-front investment and stringent technical demands often play an important role in stimulating technological advances. C. TheoreticalLessons From Emissions Trading Emissions trading, traditionally considered an "economic incentive" program, may provide a less

potent economic incentive to reduce pollution and innovate than a comparable traditional regulation.' An understanding of the reasonsfor this may contribute to a theory that would help guide design of better environmental programs. Analyzing a program's ability to

provide economic incentives for pollution reduction requires an evaluation of all potentially relevant monetary flows. In simplerterms, "follow the money." Emissions trading programs are often characterized as economic incentives because they use positiveeconomic inducements. The lower cost source can increase revenue by reducing pollution below regulatory limits and selling creditsto the higher cost source. The money to provide a positive inducement, however, must come from somewhere. An emissions trading

program produces no net incentive to do better than traditional regulation in any way because emission increases finance emissiondecreases. High-cost sources decrease costs by exceeding a regulatory limit. The savings the high-cost source realizes by exceeding aregulatory limit on pollution finance the low-cost source's "additional" pollution reductions. The emissions trading example teachesthat mimicking free market features that do not coincide with desired policy outcomes proves counterproductive. Emissions trading

programs, although they create no special net incentives to reduce emissions, encourage trade in emission reduction credits. Asmentioned above, one can always motivate trading by allowing pollution sources to avoid real reduction obligations by purchasing

paper credits or allowing poorly monitored emissions reduction claims to become creditable. While this may create a robust market, it

produces cost savings through inferior performance.222 A theory focusing on developing robust markets leads to investment of scarcepublic resources in programs that fail to use economic incentives to motivate at least equivalent environmental achievement at lowercost. The emissions trading example reveals that the term "economic incentive" has very little meaning if defined to includeeverything that relies on some kind of monetary penalty or benefit. Indeed, to the extent the term "economic incentive" should notapply to traditional regulation, it also should not apply to emissions trading. Both types of programs rely on monetary penalties toinduce compliance with government set limits. Neither creates incentives for sources to continuously realize net reductionssubstantially surpassing the specifically mandated reductions. The emissions trading example shows that one must carefully analyze

programs to see which free market-like advantages they might offer. While emissions trading may have the capacity to use privatesector compliance resources efficiently, it may use government resources for program design and enforcement inefficiently.

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DDI 08Kernoff/OlneyEmissions trading may provide no more incentive for continual improvement or innovation than traditional regulation. Emissionstrading does not stimulate competition to maximize environmental performance. It simply authorizes some trading around ofobligations the government has created.

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Command and Control not TopicalCommand and control regulations are not incentives


Rather than define economic incentives, scholars employ a conventional dichotomy that contrasts "command and control" regulations(rules that dictate precisely how a polluter must clean-up) with economic incentives.5 They claim that command and controlregulations work inefficiently, discourage innovation, and fail to provide continuous incentives to reduce pollution, but that emissionstrading and other economic incentive programs overcome these problems.

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Cap and Trade TopicalCap and trade and other command and control regulations are incentives


This failure to define economic incentives leaves unsupported the suggestion that emissions trading realizes environmental goalsthrough economic incentives, but that traditional regulations (rules that limit discharges of pollutants into the environment withoutallowing trading) do not. Both traditional regulation and emissions trading rely upon the threat of a monetary penalty to securecompliance with government commands setting emission limitations.3 Perhaps neither traditional regulation nor emissions tradingshould be considered economic incentive programs, because both rely upon government commands.4 Or perhaps both should beconsidered economic incentive programs, because monetary penalties provide a crucial economic incentive in both systems.

Cap and trade is an economic incentiveDavid Driesen, Assistant Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., Yale University Spring1998, Is emissions trading an economic incentive program?: Replacing the command andcontrol/economic incentive dichotomy, Washington and Lee Law reviewhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3655/is_199804/ai_n8791954/print

The trading mechanism creates additional incentives for some polluters within the trading program, specifically where largedifferences in marginal control costs exist. It creates an economic incentive for polluters facing high marginal control costs to increaseemissions above the otherwise applicable limit, at least to the extent that the high-cost polluters plans to purchase relatively cheapcredits from other sources.2" It also creates an incentive for polluters facing low marginal control costs to decrease emissions, at leastto the extent the polluter plans to sell credits to sources with high costs.20' If the market functions smoothly, then trading occurs, theincentives cancel each other out, and the net economic incentive mirrors that of a comparable traditional regulation (except forweakened enforcement's tendency to increase emissions). Because a well designed trading program may induce pollution sources with

low marginal control costs to go beyond regulatory limits to a greater degree than they would under a traditional regulation,commentators focusing only on the low-cost sources have argued that emissions trading creates greater incentives for technologicalinnovation than traditional regulation.208 As some economists have realized, this argument ignores the incentive for high-cost sourcesto avoid pollution reduction activities.209 Trading reduces the incentive for high-costs sources to apply new technology.

Cap and trade is historically defined as an incentive program


The dichotomy between command and control regulations and economic incentives has had a powerful influence upon policy.7 OnOctober 22, 1997, President Clinton outlined his plans to address global climate change, an increase in global mean surfacetemperatures that emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" cause.8 The President's speech stressed the issue'simportance by referring to some possible consequences of climate change including "disruptive weather events" (such as droughts andfloods), the spread of "disease bearing insects," and receding glaciers (which might cause inundation of coastal areas).9 PresidentClinton did not mention a single new traditional regulatory program or propose any specific cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, such ascarbon dioxide, below 1990 levels to combat this potential menace. Instead, he announced a "package of strong market incentives, taxcuts and cooperative efforts with industry."'o The President's package included emissions trading, which is the "economic incentive

program" most often implemented. His proposal would allow polluters in one country to avoid greenhouse gas reductions at home inexchange for pollution reductions abroad." Not surprisingly, emissions trading became an important element of the subsequentlynegotiated Kyoto Protocol on climate change, in which the developed countries apparently agreed to modest cuts in greenhouse gasemissions.'

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Cap and Trade TopicalCap and trade is an economic incentive


The trading mechanism creates additional incentives for some polluters within the trading program, specifically where largedifferences in marginal control costs exist. It creates an economic incentive for polluters facing high marginal control costs to increaseemissions above the otherwise applicable limit, at least to the extent that the high-cost polluters plans to purchase relatively cheapcredits from other sources.2" It also creates an incentive for polluters facing low marginal control costs to decrease emissions, at leastto the extent the polluter plans to sell credits to sources with high costs.20' If the market functions smoothly, then trading occurs, theincentives cancel each other out, and the net economic incentive mirrors that of a comparable traditional regulation (except forweakened enforcement's tendency to increase emissions). Because a well designed trading program may induce pollution sources withlow marginal control costs to go beyond regulatory limits to a greater degree than they would under a traditional regulation,commentators focusing only on the low-cost sources have argued that emissions trading creates greater incentives for technologicalinnovation than traditional regulation.208 As some economists have realized, this argument ignores the incentive for high-cost sourcesto avoid pollution reduction activities.209 Trading reduces the incentive for high-costs sources to apply new technology.

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Incentives are Positive and NegativeIncentives are both positive and negative therefore command and control regualtions are topical


An economic incentive program can be defined as any program that provides an economic benefit for pollution reductions or aneconomic penalty for pollution. Defining economic incentives to include both positive and negative incentives includes pollution taxesin the definition.' Does command and control regulation qualify as an economic incentive program under this definition? Imagine a

pure command and control law. The law commands polluters to perform specific pollution reducing acts, but provides no penalties fornon-compliance. This law would probably motivate little or no pollution reduction, because polluters could violate the commandswithout consequence.156 Command and control regulation only works when an enforcement mechanism exists.'57 Traditionalregulation relies upon a negative economic incentive - a monetary penalty for non-compliance - as the principle inducement to complywith regulatory requirements, true command and control requirements, such as work practice standards, and the more common

performance standards.lss Indeed, a traditional regulation's success depends heavily upon the adequacy of these monetarypenalties.l59

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AT: Its LogicalLogic is stupid anything can be considered an incentive positive or negative


A formal definition of an economic incentive program as any program relying on positive or negative economic inducements to securepollution reductions plausibly applies to just about any regulatory program. To evaluate possible explanations for the dichotomy'sassumption that emissions trading relies on economic incentives, but traditional regulation does not, a functional analysis is helpful.Parties to this debate need to analyze whether emissions trading overcomes traditional regulation's weaknesses in spurring innovationand providing continuous incentives. This will require examination of the sources of economic inducements, the financingmechanisms, the likely responses of regulated polluters (both strategic and desired), and the governmental role in emissions trading.These questions provide the tools to develop a functional theory of economic incentives.

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Incentives =/= Tax CreditsIncentives are distinct from tax credits they require linking behavior to future action, not credit foractions already taken

Gary Bingel, senior manager of state and local taxes with Smart and Associates LLP, summer 2004,Getting to the STATE'S CAPITAL: Negotiating Business Incentives, Pennsylvania CPA Journal, proquest

When considering financial assistance from governmental authorities, it is important to keep in mind the definitions of "incentive" and"credit." "Incentive" is something that stimulates one to take action,1 and "credit" is to give deserved commendation for; to commendone for.2 These concepts are at the root of why governments give assistance to businesses in the form of incentives and tax credits.Incentive programs are usually offered to stimulate businesses to take some form of action, and are considered forward-looking. Taxcredits are often offered to reward businesses that took some form of desired action, and are a reaction to steps already taken. Thereare some programs, however, that combine these concepts, such as negotiated tax credits and those that require preapproval, that areused to promote some future action. There are also incentives programs that, while negotiated and subject to preapproval, are onlyrewarded once a specified action, or promise, has been fulfilled. The following discussion will focus on true incentives programs,those that require preapproval and negotiation, as opposed to pure tax credits, which merely reward past behavior and that do notrequire any form of preapproval or negotiation.

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Regulation =/= BansRegulatory incentives are distinct from bans they require some discretion

Noel Uri, Senior Industry Economist in the Pricing Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, FederalCommunications Commission,2003, The change in technical and allocative efficiency of local exchangecarriers in the United States Info : the Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications,Information and Media, Proquest)

Incentive regulation is typically defined as the implementation of rules that encourage a regulated firm to achieve desired goals bygranting some, but not complete, discretion to the firm. Three aspects of this definition of incentive regulation are important. First,regulatory goals must be clearly specified before incentive regulation is designed. The properties of the best incentive regulation planwill vary according to the goals the plan is designed to achieve. Second, the regulated firm is granted some discretion under incentiveregulation. For example, while the firm may be rewarded for reducing its operating costs, it is not told precisely how to reduce thesecosts. Third, the regulator imposes some restrictions on relevant activities or outcomes under incentive regulation (Baron, 1991;Bernstein and Sappington, 1999).One popular incentive regulation plan is the price cap plan. The central idea behind price cap regulation is to control the pricescharged by the regulated firm, rather than its earnings. Essentially, price cap regulation plans require the regulated firm's average real

prices to fall annually by a specified percentage (Mitchell and Vogelsang, 1991). This percentage is nominally referred to as the "X-factor" or the productivity offset[1].

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Alternatives Exclude NuclearAlternative energy excludes nuclear and all fossil fuels

ChristopherSimon, professor of political science at the University of Nevada,2007, Alternative energy:political, economic, and social feasibility,p. 39-40)The federal definition of alternative energy is best summarized by Title 26, chapter 79, 7701 of the revised U.S. Code: the termalternative energy facility means a facility for producing electrical or thermal energy if the primary energy source for the facility isnot oil, natural gas, coal, or nuclear power. The primary purpose of this definition relates to the issuance of tax credits to alternativeenergy facility[ies], which meet certain standards as defined in Title 26, chapter 1, 48 Energy Credit. Tax credits are one method

by which the federal government encourages the private sector to make certain economic choices; in the case of energy policy, thisdefinition of alternative energy will have a definitive impact on how alternative energy will be defined by those individuals andcorporate bodies seeking federal recognition (and benefit) by adopting a particular definition of alternative energy. Many statedefinitions of alternative energy closely follow federal definitions. Case law confirms that federal guidelines supercede state-levelguidelines. Federal standards also impact the state and local receipt of alternative energy grants, subsidies, and tax exemptions. It isreasonable, therefore that state and local definitions would be consistent with federal policy. Consistency between federal and statedefinitions does not mean there are not a few variations. In many ways, variation at the state level illustrates the dynamic and

evolving alternative energy paradigm, which is by no means unique to the U.S. policy process.

Alternative energy excludes nuclear and fossil fuels U.S. code

U.S. Code, 4/25/08, TITLE 26. INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, 26 USCS 7701

(D) Alternative energy facility. For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term 'alternative energy facility' means a facility for producingelectrical or thermal energy if the primary energy source for the facility is not oil, natural gas, coal, or nuclear power.

Alternative energy excludes nuclear and fossil fuels

Judge William Bertinelli, Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Four,1987, 195 Cal.App. 3d 982; 241 Cal. Rptr. 215; 1987 Cal. App. LEXIS 2255, 10/28, lexis)

17 Public Resources Code section 26003, subdivision (d), defines alternative energy sources as including geothermal sources ofenergy and any other source of energy, "the efficient use of which will reduce the use of fossil and nuclear fuels."

Alternative energy is renewable energy excludes uranium because its a single use resource

ABS Alaskan, 2008 (Alternative Energy Information, http://www.absak.com/library/alternative-renewable-energy)

The term "alternative energy" (also: renewable energy) encompasses a variety of power generation sources. Generally, it refers toelectrical power derived from "renewable" resources such as solar or wind energy, as opposed to "single-use" resources such as coal oruranium. The most common forms of alternative energy available for homeowner use today are solar power, wind power and "micro-hydro" power.

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Alternatives Exclude NuclearAlternative energy excludes conventional sources of energy nuclear power is a fully conventional source

KentWelter, Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University and Executive Committee MemberEnviromental Sciences Division, American Nuclear Society 5/9/07, Nuclear Power,http://en.allexperts.com/q/Nuclear-Power-2462/Alternative-Energy.htm

QuestionOk. I'm going to play devil's advocate and say, "There are alternative fuels instead of nuclear power plants that can replace fossil fuelsFor instance, hydroleuic power, wind power, solar power, and geothermal power." What can you say about this?AnswerLet's start by defining some terms, so that we're on the same page. Fuel is a substance that can be transformed (by burning, nuclearreaction, etc) into useful forms of energy through work (turning of a turbine, cylinders in a car, etc), to produce electricity (in ourcase). Usually, we speak of alternative fuels when talking about replacements for gas in car engines and alternative energy whenspeaking about power plants. By the nature of your question, I will assume we are speaking about alternative energy.This is a funny term to me, actually, because it is a catch phrase picked up by the mainstream news to describe everything but coal,

gas, and nuclear power plants, which make up about 80% of our electricity generation. My opinion is that we always need a healthymix of energy solutions at any one time and should strive for increasing our reliance on renewable and more environmentallyconscious energy sources. Infrastructure development takes a long time. Power plants are ordered ten years in advance. Even if newtechnologies become more viable, we still need to wait a while for them to come online. They are very large structures and take a lotof time to build. Anyway, digressing a little again.

Nuclear and coal are considered baseload power. They provide the backbone of the US energy grid. As power demands change daily,weekly, seasonally, other plants come online to fill in the gaps. Namely wind, hydro, gas, and solar. One of the reasons is that theenergy density of these other power sources is much less than coal or nuclear. Because of its huge environmental impact, hydro dams

probably won't be built anymore. I mean, you have to flood an entire valley! But we should rely on the ones we currently have, sincethey are considered renewable. As for solar, this technology is better suited for distributed power. In other words, better suited forindividuals or organizations to power their own buildings, it will never become viable as a large scale energy source because you arelimited by physics. There is only a certain amount of energy that gets transported by the sun to earth per square foot of ground. Thatwill never change. Even if solar panels are 100% efficient, you can't change the fact that the sun only shines 50% of the time on theground and really doesn't transfer a whole lot of energy to the earth at a local scale. In total, yes, but not on a square foot bases.

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http://en.allexperts.com/q/Nuclear-Power-2462/Alternative-Energy.htmhttp://en.allexperts.com/q/Nuclear-Power-2462/Alternative-Energy.htm


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Alternatives = Nontraditional (list)Alternative energy must be nontraditional

Environmental Protection Agency, 2006,Environmental Protection Agency Terminology Reference System,http://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.navigate_term?p_term_id=688&p_term_cd=TERM

alternative energyEnergy derived from nontraditional sources (e.g., compressed natural gas, solar, hydroelectric, wind). (Source:Office of Policy:Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. Annex T: GlossaryTerm Detail)

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http://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=9&p_list_option_cd=ORGhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=9&p_list_option_cd=ORGhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=1&P_DATA_ID=20023&p_version=1&p_list_option_cd=INFOhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=1&P_DATA_ID=20023&p_version=1&p_list_option_cd=INFOhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.navigate_term?p_term_id=291018&p_term_cd=TERMDIShttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=9&p_list_option_cd=ORGhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.org_info?P_REG_AUTH_ID=1&P_DATA_ID=20023&p_version=1&p_list_option_cd=INFOhttp://iaspub.epa.gov/trs/trs_proc_qry.navigate_term?p_term_id=291018&p_term_cd=TERMDIS


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Alternatives Include NuclearRecent legislation defines nuclear power as alternative energy

Drew Winter, EJ Magazine, 2007, Nuclear Renaissance,http://www.ejmagazine.com/2007b/pdfs/nuclear.pdf

The reason for the sudden interest in nuclear power is due largely to a streamlined licensing process and the Energy Policy Act of2005.The act, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., grants numerous subsidies to utilities

building nuclear power plants. These plants are listed as an alternative energy source along with wind, solar and other so-called greenoptions. Subsidies include up to $125 million in annual tax credit, an 80 percent loan on construction costs and other benefits forreactors using new technology.

Nuclear power is alternative energy


One last kind of alternative energy to discuss is nuclear power. Often classified as a traditional power source, it is possible to think ofnuclear as an alternative to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants do not produce air pollution, so they are clean compared to oil, gas andcoal. However, nuclear power produces radioactive waste as a byproduct, and nuclear reactor accidents can have catastrophic effects,so the environmental value of nuclear is debatable. However, it cannot be denied that nuclear power can replace fossil fuels to someextent as they run out, and there are many countries around the world that are currently planning to build new nuclear power plants.

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http://www.ejmagazine.com/2007b/pdfs/nuclear.pdfhttp://www.ejmagazine.com/2007b/pdfs/nuclear.pdf


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Alt =/= RenewableAlternative energy is distinct from renewable energy


An overview of the various kinds of alternative energy follows. At the outset we must differentiate between alternative energy, andrenewable energy. Alternative energy refers to any form of energy which is an alternative to the traditional fossil fuels of oil, naturalgas and coal. Renewable energy are the forms of alternative energy that are renewed by the natural processes of the Earth, such assunlight from the sun or wind from the air, and so are environmentally friendly. We cover all alternative energies, but we will beginthe overview with the renewable energy sources.

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AlternativeAlternative can mean many things.

Dictionary.com Unabridged, no date, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alternative

1. a choice limited to one of two or more possibilities, as of things, propositions, or courses of action, the selection of which precludesany other possibility: You have the alternative of riding or walking.

2. one of the things, propositions, or courses of action that can be chosen: The alternative to riding is walking.

3. a possible or remaining course or choice: There was no alternative but to walk.adjective4. affording a choice of two or more things, propositions, or courses of action.

5. (of two things, propositions, or courses) mutually exclusive so that if one is chosen the other must be rejected: The alternativepossibilities are neutrality and war.

6. employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment: an alternativenewspaper; alternative lifestyles.

7. Logic. (of a proposition) asserting two or more choices, at least one of which is true.

Youre not allowed to look at my interpretation.

Encyclopedia Britannica, no date

To learn more about alternative visit Britannica.com

Alternative is a noun, maybe.

American Heritage Dictionary, no date

n.

The choice between two mutually exclusive possibilities.A situation presenting such a choice.Either of these possibilities. See Synonyms at choice.Usage Problem One of a number of things from which one must be chosen.

adj.Allowing or necessitating a choice between two or more things.

Existing outside traditional or established institutions or systems: an alternative lifestyle.Espousing or reflecting values that are different from those of the establishment or mainstream: an alternative newspaper; alternative

greeting cards.

Usage Problem Substitute or different; other.

This one also says alternative might be a noun.Wordnet, no date

alternative

adjective1. serving or used in place of another; "an alternative plan" [syn: alternate] 2. necessitating a choice between mutuallyexclusive possibilities; "alternative possibilities were neutrality or war" 3. pertaining to unconventional choices; "an alternative lifestyle"noun1. one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen; "what option did I have?"; "there no other alternative"; "myonly choice is to refuse" [syn: option]

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http://dictionary.reference.com/go/http:/www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=Alternativehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/choicehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alternatehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/optionhttp://dictionary.reference.com/go/http:/www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=Alternativehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/choicehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alternatehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/option


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Did you know you can say alternative in so many languages?

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, no date

offering a choice of a second possibility

Example: An alternative arrangement can be made if my plans don't suit you.

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Arabic:

Chinese (Simplified):

Chinese (Traditional):

Czech:jin

Danish:alternativ

Dutch:alternatief

Estonian:alterna- tiivne

Finnish:vaihtoehtoinen

French:autre

German:alternativ

Greek:

Hungarian:alternatv

Icelandic:sem um er a velja,annar (kostur)

Indonesian:alternatif

Italian:alternativo

Japanese:

Korean:

,

Latvian:alternatvs; izvles-

Lithuanian:alternatyvus

Norwegian:alternativ

Polish:alternatywny

Portuguese (Brazil):alternativo

Portuguese (Portugal):alternativo

Romanian:alt

Russian:

Slovak:alternatvny

Slovenian:drugaen

Spanish:alternativo

Swedish:annan, alternativ-

Turkish:baka, br, alternatif

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alternative [o l t ntiv] noun a choice between two (or sometimes more) things or possibilitiesExample: You leave me no alternative but to dismiss you; I don't like fish. Is there an alternative on the menu?

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Arabic:

Chinese (Simplified):

Chinese (Traditional):

Czech:jin monost

Danish:alternativ; valg

Dutch:alternatief

Estonian:valikuvimalus

Finnish:vaihtoehto

French:alternative

German:die Alternative

Greek:

Hungarian:vlaszts(i lehetsg)

Icelandic:valkostur

Indonesian:alternatif

Italian:alternativa

Japanese:

Korean:

,

Latvian:alternatva; izvle

Lithuanian:alternatyva, kitas

pasirinkimas

Norwegian:valg, alternativ

Polish:alternatywa, innamoliwo

Portuguese (Brazil):alternativa

Portuguese (Portugal):alternativa

Romanian:alternativ

Russian:

Slovak:in monos

Slovenian:(druga) izbira

Spanish:alternativa

Swedish:alternativ, val

Turkish:

*

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Lol.

Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, no date

Alternative

Al*ter"na*tive\, a. [Cf. F. alternatif.]1. Offering a choice of two things.2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.3. Alternate; reciprocal. [Obs.] --Holland.

I thought they just defined it.

Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, no date

Al*ter"na*tive\, n. [Cf. F. alternative, LL. alternativa.]1. An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the othermust be left.There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence. --Burke.2. Either of two things or propositions offered to one's choice. Thus when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things arecalled alternatives.Having to choose between two alternatives, safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse. --Jowett (Thucyd.).3. The course of action or the thing offered in place of another.If this demand is refused the alternative is war. --Lewis.With no alternative but death. --Longfellow.4. A choice between more than two things; one of several things offered to choose among.My decided preference is for the fourth and last of these alternatives. --Gladstone.

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DDI 08Kernoff/Olney

Energy

Lolcrabs.Online Etymology Dictionary, no date

1599, from M.Fr. energie, from L.L. energia, from Gk. energeia "activity, operation," from energos "active, working," from en- "at" +ergon "work" (see urge(v.)). Used by Aristotle with a sense of "force of expression;" broader meaning of "power" is first recorded inEng. 1665. Energize "rouse to activity" is from 1753; energetic of persons, institutions, etc., is from 1796. Energy crisis first attested1970.

Youre totally not topical

Wordnet, no date

energy

noun1. (physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules

or ergs; "energy can take a wide variety of forms" 2. forceful exertion; "he plays tennis with great energy"; "he's full ofzip" 3. enterprising or am

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Topicality Two