II 111th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3626 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 21, 2010 Mr. Franken (for himself and Mr. Bond) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To encourage the implementation of thermal energy infrastructure, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Purpose. Sec. 4. Statement of policy. TITLE I—Modification of credit for electricity produced from certain renewable sources Sec. 101. Extension of renewable electricity credit to thermal energy. TITLE II—Exempt facility bonds Sec. 201. Exempt facility bonds. TITLE III—Energy sustainability and efficiency grants for institutions Sec. 301. Definition of institutional entity. Sec. 302. Availability of grants. Sec. 303. Authorization of appropriations for grants.

2.

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)approximately 30 percent of the total quantity of energy consumed in the United States is used to provide thermal energy for heating and cooling building space, domestic hot water, and industrial processes; (2)thermal energy is an essential, but often overlooked, segment of the national energy mix; (3)district energy systems use 1 or more central plants to provide thermal energy to multiple buildings that range in size from campus applications to systems heating entire towns or cities; (4)district energy systems provide sustainable thermal energy infrastructure by producing and distributing thermal energy from combined heat power, sources of industrial or municipal surplus heat, and from renewable sources such as biomass, geothermal, and solar energy; (5)as of 2009, the United States had approximately 2,500 operating district energy systems; (6)district energy systems provide advantages that support secure, affordable, renewable, and sustainable energy for the United States, including— (A)use of local fuels or waste heat sources that keep jobs and energy dollars in local economies; (B)stable, predictable energy costs for businesses and industry; (C)reduction in reliance on fossil fuels; (D)reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases; and (E)flexibility to modify fuel sources in response to future changes in fuel availability and prices and development of new technologies; (7)district energy helps cut peak power demand and reduce power transmission and distribution system constraints by— (A)meeting air conditioning demand through delivery of chilled water produced with heat from combined heat and power or other energy sources; and (B)shifting power demand through thermal storage and, with combined heat and power, generating power near load centers; (8)combined heat and power systems increase energy efficiency of power plants by capturing thermal energy and using the thermal energy to provide heating and cooling, more than doubling the efficiency of conventional power plants; (9)according to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, if the United States was able to increase combined heat and power from approximately 9 percent of total electric generation capacity to 20 percent by 2030, the increase would— (A)save as much energy as half of all household energy consumption; (B)create approximately 1,000,000 new jobs; (C)avoid more than 800,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, which is equivalent to taking half of all United States passenger vehicles off the road; and (D)save hundreds of millions of barrels of oil equivalent; and (10)constraints to significant expansion of district energy and combined heat and power include— (A)the lack of economic value in the energy marketplace for the environmental, grid support, energy security, and local economic development benefits of district energy systems; (B)relatively high project development costs due to the variety of institutional, legal, and technical issues that must be addressed; and (C)the high costs of debt service, particularly in the early years of systems development before a broad base of customers has connected.

3.

Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to encourage the implementation of thermal energy infrastructure order to— (1)increase energy efficiency; (2)increase use of renewable energy resources; (3)revitalize the infrastructure of the cities and institutions of the United States; (4)reduce local and regional air pollution; (5)reduce emissions of greenhouse gases; (6)reduce emissions of ozone-depleting refrigerants; and (7)enhance power grid reliability and overall energy supply reliability and energy security.

4.

Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States that, in energy policy development and program implementation, the following factors should be considered: (1)Thermal energy represents a significant part of the energy requirements of the United States, providing building heating and cooling, domestic hot water, and industrial process energy. (2)There are many opportunities for meeting thermal energy requirements directly through renewable energy sources or recycled energy (such as recovered waste heat), without generation of electricity. (3)Policies and incentives for encouraging renewable energy and energy efficiency should address thermal energy as well as electricity. (4)District energy systems provide an important means of delivering sustainable thermal energy to consumers, and provide energy security benefits, by— (A)cutting peak power demand; (B)reducing power transmission and distribution system constraints; and (C)providing flexibility to modify fuel sources in response to future changes in fuel availabilities and prices and development of new technologies.