Thursday, November 21 (Washington, D.C.) — Today, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Rep. Bradley Scott Schneider (D-IL) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the department to broaden the eligibility for the Inflation Reduction Act’s technology neutral production and investment tax credits (Sections 45Y and 48E respectively) to include combined heat and power and other energy efficiency measures.
Their letter proposes the Treasury adopt a lifecycle emissions analysis for combustion and gasification technologies that requires comparison between a facility’s GHG emissions and those that would be emitted “but for” its operation — an argument that supports the comprehensive methodology CHPA proposed to Treasury. CHPA Executive Director David Gardiner released the following statement on Reps. Casten and Schneider’s letter:
“Thanks to their high efficiency rates, CHP systems can deliver substantial — and immediate — emissions reductions that the U.S. urgently needs to combat the climate crisis. Today, CHP units are cleaner than the grid in every part of the country, and their high capacity factors allow them to reduce emissions three times faster than solar PV units of the same capacity. But as Rep. Casten and Rep. Schenider warn in their letter: Treasury’s proposed rules risk excluding technologies like CHP, even if they can achieve major emissions reductions compared to the grid. The case for CHP is clear. We need this highly efficient tool as part of our climate toolbox, and the CHP Alliance appreciates Reps. Casten and Schneider’s efforts to ensure that Treasury’s final rules accurately reflect its emissions reduction potential.”
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