EPA’s Proposed GHG Standards and our Electricity Future

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new greenhouse gas standards limiting new coal-fired plants to emitting 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour they generate. The regulation is one of many signals—such as the low price of natural gas, and the falling costs of renewables—that point to an uncertain future for coal.

Watch RMI electricity experts James Newcomb and Lena Hansen discuss how the EPA’s rule might effect the current electricity landscape in the short term, and how this is one of many steps along the road toward a long-term vision for an electricity system that is powered by 80 percent renewables by 2050.