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Energy and Utilities Law

SelectedWorks

2013

Taxation

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Conserving A Place For Renewable Power, Jacob P. Byl Feb 2013

Conserving A Place For Renewable Power, Jacob P. Byl

Jacob P. Byl

Promoting renewable power and conserving land are often conflicting goals because renewable power requires a lot of land. The conflict is becoming an important issue on lands encumbered by conservation easements. I argue that the current legal rule allowing oil and gas development, but not wind and solar development, on conserved land does not make sense in light of the threats of climate change. The best way to encourage renewable power while respecting the intent of landowners is to have the Internal Revenue Service promulgate rules that explicitly allow renewable power going forward and interpret existing easements with a set …


Lightning In A Bottle: Using Tax Policy To Solve Renewable Energy's Storage Challenges, Roberta F. Mann Jan 2013

Lightning In A Bottle: Using Tax Policy To Solve Renewable Energy's Storage Challenges, Roberta F. Mann

Roberta F Mann

Government support for renewable energy has increased the generation of electricity from intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar. The United States delivered almost $14 billion in renewable energy tax incentives in 2011. More renewables in the electricity mix means lower carbon emissions. Intermittent energy sources can reliably provide up to 20 percent of the electricity mix. However, increasing renewable generation above 20 percent requires better weather forecasting, improved coordination, increased grid capacity or more storage capacity. Batteries and electrical energy storage technologies straddle two major energy sectors: transportation and the grid. Unfortunately, compared to other types of technology, …