Persico-Dasalakis Aff

Plan
The USFG should establish a feed-in tariff that requires utilities to offer long-term contracts to customer-generators of solar power.
Inherency

Absent regulatory reform state RPS and Feed in Tariffs are doomed
Barber12 (regular correspondent for two Southern Arizona business publications and spent five years writing for the University of Arizona’s Report on Research. “U.S. Feed-in Tariffs will Increase PV Demand”, Energy Trend)

The few feed-in tariffs that have been enacted recently in regions of the
AND
policy trend shift for many and some utilities are still fighting the concept.
Effective Feed in Tariffs are the only way to make solar power scalable, creates a strong manufacturing base and market competition
Barber12 (regular correspondent for two Southern Arizona business publications and spent five years writing for the University of Arizona’s Report on Research. “U.S. Feed-in Tariffs will Increase PV Demand”, Energy Trend)

Feed-in tariffs (FIT) have been the preferred policy in many regions
AND
Colorado, utility have also announced plans to launch FIT programs in 2012. 

Adv 1 – Grid
Power collapse imminent
Penland12 http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2012/11/03/natural-gas-americas-future-electric-grid/ 

In August 2003, cascading electric blackouts across the northeast United States left roughly 50
AND
seems as stupid as it was before spending billions in federal stimulus dollars.
Centralization creates huge blackout risk

Lewis12 (http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/9301-securing-the-nations-power-grid)
To avert future costly blackouts, the United States must modernize its energy system.
AND
brittle system, policymakers should embrace a more reliable, decentralized electrical system. 

 FIT produces a market for decentralized production
Behles ’12 (Deborah, law prof and clinical attorney at Golden Gate U, “An Integrated Green Urban Electrical Grid,” 36 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 671)

Using the outputs from the integrated resource planning exercise, the community should then develop
AND
overcoming the cost barriers to introducing renewable energy and making it economically viable."
Distributed grids check failure
Verclas12 , “The Decentralization of the Electricity Grid – Mitigating Risk in the Energy Sector” April 27, 2012  Issues: Climate and Energy, Risk Analysis - http://www.aicgs.org/publication/the-decentralization-of-the-electricity-grid-mitigating-risk-in-the-energy-sector/

Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005 and the
AND
and ensuring continuous electricity delivery even in times of natural disasters or terrorist attacks

Even small grid failures can bring down the entire system – impact is chemical plant explosions which are worse than atomic bombs
Latynina3 (Yulia Latynina, journalist for Novaya Gazeta[World Press Review (VOL. 50, No. 11) www.worldpress.org/Americas/1579.cfm ])

The scariest thing about the cascading power outages was not spoiled groceries in the
AND
always be distinguished from the actions of a drunken dispatcher or random lightning.
Blackouts cause meltdown
Capiello 11 (Dina, Huffington Post, "Long Blackouts Pose Risk To U.S. Nuclear Reactors" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/blackout-risk-us-nuclear-reactors_n_841869.html?WASHINGTON –
The United States since the late 1980s has only required nuclear power plants to cope
AND
making it difficult to ascertain water levels and the condition of the core. 

Meltdowns cause extinction
Wasserman 2001 (Senior Editor – Free Press ”America's Terrorist Nuclear Threat to Itself”, October, http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2001/10/00_wasserman_nuclear-threat.htm)
Without continous monitoring and guaranteed water flow, the thousands of tons of radioactive rods
AND
core of our life and of all future generations must be shut down.

Nuclear power can’t restart after blackouts. Magnifies link.
Pubic Citizen3 (national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests  http://www.tradewatch.org/documents/bigblackout.pdf)

To get the power grid back up and running again after a blackout requires plants
AND
plants might take a few hours. Coal plants can restart in eight hours

Adv 2 - Energy Democratization

What is powering our laptops? The lights? The air conditioner? What sort of fuel is burning to keep the power plant running at peak capacity? Where is it from? Whoand whatis hurt by it? Too few can answer these important questions, because energy and electricity are intangible and taken for granted. We simply expect power to be there when we plug in to an outlet.
This is a direct result of the design of the centralized energy on which modern society runs—we are distanced, spatially and emotionally, from the sources of electricity.  The intangibility and consequent distance of energy makes awareness and sustainability impossible.
Pierce10 [James Pierce, Eric Paulos, researcher and Cooper-Siegel Endowed Chair at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University “Materializing energy”, http://www.paulos.net/papers/2010/MaterializingEnergy_DIS2010.pdf]

THE INTANGIBILITY OF ENERGY A common observation among designers and researchers interested in sustainability and
AND
energy-asmateriality involving collecting, keeping, sharing, and activating energy.

Large power stations reign in the squo
Farrell11, ILSR senior researcher specializing in energy policy developments that best expand the benefits of local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy, Jun 23, 2011 “Democratizing the Electricity System – A Vision for the 21st Century Grid” http://www.ilsr.org/energy/publications/democratizing-electricity-system-vision-21st-century-grid/

While technology advances and costs drop, the major obstacle confronting distributed generation is a
AND
grid systems.Expanding and adopting new policies can level the playing field.

FiTs cause paradigm shift. Energy becomes democratized. Allows wide-scale individual participation.
Aguillon 12 
(Cecilia, 8/7/12, Director of market development for Kyocera Solar, "Feed-In Tariffs: A Good FIT for the U.S. Solar Market", http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2012/08/feed-in-tariffs-a-good-fit-for-the-u-s-solar-market/-http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2012/08/feed-in-tariffs-a-good-fit-for-the-u-s-solar-market/, Dil)
Because of these obvious benefits, some U.S. municipal utilities are actually
AND
renewable energy is free – consumers only buy the ability to produce it.
FiTs decentralizes grid and democratizes energy production. Crushes risk of resource conflict. Limits environmental degradation
Jacobs10
(Miguel, Researcher, author and advocate of sustainability and resilience strategies, David, Director Renewable Energy, IFOK GmbH, and Benjamin K., Visiting Associate Professor at Vermont Law School, "Powering the Green Economy: The feed-in tariff handbook", p. xxiii-xxv, rcheek)
Our options then are centered on making our lifestyles, our way of making things
AND
, and supply is completely reliable and often indigeneous, enhancing national security. 

Energy must be rendered tangible via local generation.  Doing so builds a bridge between “energy awareness”—the squo where people know about environmental consequences but don’t change their behavior—and “energy engagement”, where we actively remake our lives towards sustainability.  
Scenario 1: Environmental Racism

The plan’s flexible approach to generation prioritizes local needs, ownership and control.  This is an institutional change that challenges the central energy system by encouraging polycentric decision-making and empowering local actors at the expense of squo energy elites—this can resolve issues like fuel poverty and environmental racism
Wolsink, 2011 [Maarten, Maarten Wolsink∗ Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam,” The research agenda on social acceptance of distributed generation in smart grids: Renewable as common pool resources” Elsevier Journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews]

What are the social foundations of smart grids? They consist of decentralised socio-
AND
will impede the application of the most promising solutions for smart grid development.

Studies prove environmental racism
Robinson 00
(Deborah, co-chair of the International Committee of the Interim National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee, “Environmental Racism: Old Wine in a New Bottle,” accessed 8-17-12, http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/echoes/echoes-17-02.html)
Many people trace the birth of the environmental justice movement in the United States to
AND
it taken effective action to stop such practices from occurring in the future.

We have a moral obligation to reject the evils of racism—the alternative is a world doomed to destruction.
Barndt, 91

( Barndt, 91 (Joseph, Pastor and community activist, Dismantling Racism: The Continuing Challenge to White America, page 155-156) 

To study racism is to study walls. We have looked at barriers and fences
AND
of the world and ourselves, we dare not allow it to continue.

A switch to clean energy reduces environmental racism
Coalition for Social Justice 12
(Cape Wind Project, “America’s First Offshore Wind Farm on Nantucket Sound,” accessed 10-17-12 http://www.capewind.org/modules.php?artid=104&file=index&name=Sections&op=modload&req=viewarticle) 

The region we serve is intimately familiar with the costs and risks of depending
AND
great boon to the health and environment of our region and its people."

This racism and classism, even if inadvertent – dehumanizes – allowing evil to persist. We control their impacts. Dehumanization is the framework that makes violence possible.
Livingstone11 (December 2, 2011 by David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D. in Philosophy Dispatches ttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/philosophy-dispatches/201112/dehumanization-genocide-and-the-psychology-indifference-0)
These two factors—essentialism and the belief in a cosmic hierarchy—work in
AND
, as you read these words, genocidal violence is gathering momentum in Sudan

Scenario 2: Epistemology of Energy
This tangible engagement is the difference between shrilly shouting at people about energy and inviting and teaching them to change their lives.  The aff guides our relationship with energy and society towards a sustainable future.  
Paulos10 [James Pierce, Eric Paulos, researcher and Cooper-Siegel Endowed Chair at the¶ Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University “Materializing energy”, http://www.paulos.net/papers/2010/MaterializingEnergy_DIS2010.pdf]

Designing for energy engagement and attunement Energy engagement could be a powerful way of transforming
AND
we must also recognize that we can design our world to be otherwise.

And, the plan encourages a set of technologies that shift our relationship with energy towards sustainability—the psychological effects of its integration create wholesale cultural change and awareness
Pierce and Paulos, 2010 [James Pierce, Eric Paulos, researcher and Cooper-Siegel Endowed Chair at the¶ Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University “Materializing energy”, http://www.paulos.net/papers/2010/MaterializingEnergy_DIS2010.pdf]

Our approach is grounded in a belief that sustainable interaction design can benefit from and
AND
designers and researchers of interactive systems should be mindful of the ways new technologies

Critical paradigm shift needed to avert global environmental collapse and save the planet
Kimbrough13 (http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0110-kimbrough-rirdan-interview.html) 

Rirdan's "blueprint" addresses a spread of issues including: climate change, water
AND
see that it is possible to avert the worst that is to come.
FIT Solvency
Absent regulatory reform state RPS and Feed in Tariffs are doomed
Barber12 (regular correspondent for two Southern Arizona business publications and spent five years writing for the University of Arizona’s Report on Research. “U.S. Feed-in Tariffs will Increase PV Demand”, Energy Trend)

The few feed-in tariffs that have been enacted recently in regions of the
AND
policy trend shift for many and some utilities are still fighting the concept. 

FIT is needed for solar generators
 Lillian 2012, Editor, Solar Industry Magazine, Thursday 21 June 2012 , "What Is Holding Back Solar Feed-In-Tariff Programs In The U.S.Market?" 
http:solarindustrymag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.10574
Feed-in tariffs (FITs) have spurred the installation of more than three
AND
U.S. programs allow participation by owners of residential PV arrays.
Feed-in tariffs (FITs) have spurred the installation of more than three
AND
with federal and/or state incentives in order to create an attractive investment

FITs provide market stability resulting in rapid deployment of renewable tech
Toby D. Couture et al 2010, E3 Analytics, Karlynn Cory, Claire Kreycik, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  Emily Williams, U.S. Department of State, July 2010 Technical Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  work was funded by the DOE, “A Policymaker’s Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design,”
Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are the most widely used policy in the
AND
the prevailing market price (IEA 2008, Rickerson et al. 2007).
Criteria for judging the success of feed-in tariffs depend on the policy goals
AND
(Germany BMU 2007, Lipp 2007, Mendonça et al. 2009b).

Mismatched State policies undermines renewable deployment – now is key
Kopetsky ‘8 (Brad A., J.D. U of Wisconsin Law School, “Deutschland Uber Alles: Why German Regulations Need to Conquer the Divided U.S. Renewable-Energy Framework to Save Clean Tech (And the World),” 8 Wis. L. Rev. 941)
Global warming, threats to energy security, and rising energy costs have become unavoidable
AND
been very successful and used as a model in many developing nations. n23

All other incentives and policies will fail – A federal feed in tariff will result in rapid deployment and development of renewables
Ferrey et al. ’10  (Steven, law prof at Suffolk, Chad Laurent JD at Suffolk, Cameron Ferrey president of Computers Across Borders, “Fire and Ice: World Renewable Energy and Carbon Control Mechanisms Confront Constitutional Barriers,” 20 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol'y F. 125)
It is estimated that roughly half of new renewable energy power capacity in the United
AND
higher the return on investment guaranteed by the feed-in tariff rates.