Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Plan Text

The United States federal government should establish a feed-in tariff that creates long-term purchase contracts for new qualifying facilities that use wind and/or solar power for energy production to ensure a reasonable rate of return. 

Warming Adv

Catastrophic anthropogenic warming is happening – observable data and a scientific consensus confirm positive feedbacks will cause rapid warming triggering nuclear conflicts globally.

Kaku 11. (Michio, PhD from Berkeley University. Author of Ph.D. level textbooks. "Physics of the Future." http://213.55.83.52/ebooks/physics/Physics%20of%20the%20Future.pdf-http://213.55.83.52/ebooks/physics/Physics of the Future.pdf)

By midcentury, the full impact of a fossil fuel economy should be in full
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methane gas to be released, causing a runaway cycle of global warming. 

Consensus over climate change now with over 90% certainty—We can’t wait for certitude to act because it will be too late

Dennis Patrick O’Hara and Alan Abelsohn 11, Assistant professor of ethics as well as the Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology at the University of St. Michael’s College and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and lecturer in the Centre for Environment, at the University of Toronto (Ethics %26 the Environment, Volume 16, Number 1, Spring)

Another disclaimer that has been used to justify delayed and inadequate responses to climate change
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certitude, scientific or otherwise, contradicts the very pattern of our existence.

Emissions are reversible but the window is closing.

Fiona Harvey 11 is an environmental correspondent for Guardian, "World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns," 11/9, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change

The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy
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temperatures to 2C of warming~] will be closed forever," said Birol.

3 Internal Links

First is Renewable Generation

FITS key to optimize market for renewables

Masterson 10. (Crystal D., Third Year student at University of Oklahoma College of Law, American Indian Law Review, "Wind-Energy Ventures in Indian Country: Fashioning a Functional Paradigm." 2010. 34 Am. Indian L. Rev. 317 Lexis.)
The feed-in tariffs require that every utility connect and give priority to all
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renewable energy" n265 and the potential for less expensive electricity altogether. n266

Electricity sector is key polluter

Mormann 11 (Felix, German JD and JSD from University of Passau School of law, as well as an LMM from UC BerkeleySchool of Law and is a research Fellow at Stanford’s Steyer Center for Energy Policy and Finance, writing for Economic Law Quarterly, "Requirements for a Renewables Revolution." 05/02/11. http://www.boalt.org/elq/documents/elq38_4_03_2012_0808.pdf)
Renewable sources of energy are relevant not only to electricity generation but also to other
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this Article focuses on the use of renewables for the generation of electricity.

National FIT is modeled globally and solves resource shortages world wide

Lynch 8/9/12, Advisor to Principal Solar Inc, Feed-in Tariffs: The Proven Road Not Taken – FierceEnergy, http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/feed-tariffs-proven-road-not-taken/2012-08-09~~%23ixzz24aVQZwDO
The U.S. needs a nationwide FIT to kick-start the renewable
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foreign oil, while helping to decrease the associated massive annual cash drain. 

Resource shortages escalate to global conflict

Heinberg 12. (Richard, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, Energy Bulletin, "Geopolitical implications of ’Peak everything’" January 10^th 2012. http://energybulletin.net/stories/2012-01-10/geopolitical-implications-%E2%80%9Cpeak-everything%E2%80%9D-http://energybulletin.net/stories/2012-01-10/geopolitical-implications-%E2%80%9Cpeak-everything%E2%80%9D)
From competition among hunter-gatherers for wild game to imperialist wars over precious minerals
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—will most probably be economic and ecological ruin accompanied by political chaos.

Second is Natural Gas

The US will be locked in to natural gas unless renewable alternatives are developed—Natural Gas causes methane release and fast warming

Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger 12 are the authors of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, Feb 27 (http://e360.yale.edu/feature/nordhaus_shellenberger_beyond_cap_and_trade_a_new_path_to_clean_energy/2499/)
A funny thing happened while environmentalists were trying and failing to cap carbon emissions in
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fossil fuels. There simply is no substitute for making clean energy cheap.

*FITs prevents volatile natural gas prices and frees up supply for the agriculture sector

Blake 09, Maria, the Washington Monthly, "The Rooftop Revolution", http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0903.blake.html

You might expect that a system like this—one that allows countless independent producers
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cut your use of natural gas, bringing prices down across the board.

Diversity of fuels and decreased natural gas usage for energy production is essential to the future America’s agricultural sector

IECA 3 ~[Industrial Energy Consumers of America, nonprofit organization created to promote the interests of manufacturing companies for which the availability, use and cost of energy, power or feedstock play a significant role in their ability to compete, July 22 2003, "IMPACT OF THE U.S. NATURAL GAS CRISIS ON THE NORTH AMERICAN NITROGEN FERTILIZER INDUSTRY," http://www.ieca-us.com/wp-content/uploads/072203Fertilizerbriefing.pdf~~]
Natural gas is the principal and only economically feasible feedstock raw material used for producing
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must enact policies that stabilize the supply/demand balance for natural gas.

US agriculture and food production is critical to prevent world food wars

Lugar 2000 (Richard, Chairman of the Senator Foreign Relations Committee and Member/Former Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, "Plant power" http://www.unep.org/OurPlanet/imgversn/143/lugar.html)
In a world confronted by global terrorism, turmoil in the Middle East, burgeoning
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research will generate the innovations that will be necessary to feed the world.

Third is the Green Economy,

Green economy key to address climate change – feed-in tariffs solve through investment and can meet the global energy demand

Kofetsky 2008, "DEUTSCHLAND OBER ALLES: WHY GERMAN REGULATIONS NEED TO CONQUER THE DIVIDED U.S. RENEWABLE-ENERGY FRAMEWORK TO SAVE CLEAN TECH (AND THE WORLD)", https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v%26pid=gmail%26attid=0.1%26thid=13955f78a3a8375d%26mt=application/pdf%26url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3Db62fd2ee4a%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13955f78a3a8375d%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw%26sig=AHIEtbRX3GpQtnAMY29zWdsBnFGFuWibbA
Global warming., threats to energy Security, and rising energy costs have become unavoidable
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are dim for advancing clean tech to sufficiently meet the current energy concerns.

FITs has the opportunity to provide three million US jobs directly and indirectly

World Future Council 2011, "Feed-In Tariffs – A guide to one of the world’s best environmental policies Boosting Energy for our Future", http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Maja/Feed-in_Tariffs_WFC.pdf**
How many jobs can RE create? The German FIT legislation has been instrumental in
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needs, will have a great opportunity to benefit from this new industry.

Ability to export renewables is the cornerstone of American economic recovery

Jenkins 2011, Jesse, "Director of Energy and Climate Policy, Breakthrough Institute", http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2011/10/is-america-losing-the-clean-en.php~~%232102285
There are a host of reasons why targeted policies and smart public investments in emerging
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Making clean energy cheap and fully competitive should become our nation’s rallying focus.

Economic stagnation leads to nuclear war.

Merlini, Senior Fellow – Brookings, 11 ~[Cesare Merlini, nonresident senior fellow
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-Secular World?  Survival, 53:2, 117 – 130~]
Two neatly opposed scenarios for the future of the world order illustrate the range of
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theocratic absolutes, competing or converging with secular absolutes such as unbridled nationalism.

Global economic crises cause war — strong statistic support

Royal, ’10 (Jedediah, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction Program — DOD, Economics of War %26 Peace: Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith %26 Brauer, p. 213-15)
Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline may increase the likelihood of external conflict
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such, the view presented here should be considered ancillary to those views.

CO2 independently causes extinction

Westenskow 8. (Rosalie, UPI Correspondent, United Press International, "Acidic oceans may tangle food chain." 06/06/08. http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/06/06/Acidic_oceans_may_tangle_food_chain/UPI-84651212763771/print/-http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/06/06/Acidic_oceans_may_tangle_food_chain/UPI-84651212763771/print/)
citing Scott Doney, PhD from MIT in Chemistry, AND CITING, David Adamec, head of Ocean Sciences at NASA with a PhD in Meteorology from Naval Postgraduate School
Increased carbon levels in ocean water could have devastating impacts on marine life, scientists
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one year, potentially leading to extinction for some species, Adamec said.

Warming causes extinction

Morgan, 2009  ~[Dennis Ray, Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race", Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect~]
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
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Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Grids

Grid centralization ensures energy disruptions through accidents, storms, energy trading, and cyber terror.

Hildyard et al 12 Nicholas, The Corner House, Larry Lohmann and Sarah Sexton.12 Energy Security For Whom? For What? February 2012, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/sites/thecornerhouse.org.uk/files/Energy%20Security%20For%20Whom%20For%20What.pdf
By the same token, the more that an energy system is subjected to centralised
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of generators magnify such "cyber-security" and data protection challenges.

FITS solves 2 ways:

1. Distributed Generation—insulates the grid from power shortages.

Miguel Mendonça et al 9. Miguel Mendonça. Researcher, author and advocate
AND

The Feed-in Tariff Handbook, p. 112-8)
To penalize renewables for their variability or intermittency not only ignores how that variability can
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the more stable the grid becomes, rather than the other way around.

Independently, Susceptibility of our grid makes cyber-attacks likely in the near term

Copelin 12 (Laylan,Austin American-Statesman "Growing threat to utilities weighed" May 25, 2012 Lexis)
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul on Thursday huddled behind closed doors with
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all other sectors, it deserves special and urgent attention," he said.

Modernization of the grid deters attacks and prevents attacks effectiveness

NETL 7 (National Energy Technology Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, "MODERN GRID BENEFITS" August 2007 http://www.netl.doe.gov/smartgrid/referenceshelf/whitepapers/Modern%20Grid%20Benefits_Final_v1_0.pdf)
SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED VULNERABILITY TO TERRORIST ATTACK AND NATURAL DISASTERS A Center for Contemporary Conflict white
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increased resistance to attack makes it better able to cope with natural disasters. 

Successful cyber-attack on the grid would cause US lash out triggering nuclear war

Habiger, 2/1/2010 (Eugue – Retired Air Force General, Cyberwarfare and Cyberterrorism, The Cyber Security Institute, p. 11-19)
However, there are reasons to believe that what is going on now amounts to
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based defenses, making us significantly more at risk of a major war.

Second, Blackouts cause nuclear meltdown

Capiello 11 (Dina, Huffington Post, "Long Blackouts Pose Risk To U.S. Nuclear Reactors" 3/29/11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/blackout-risk-us-nuclear-reactors_n_841869.html
A 2003 federal analysis looking at how to estimate the risk of containment failure said
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things in a place that would not have been swept away by tsunami." 

Nuclear Meltdown causes Extinction

Lendmen 11 (Stephen, "Nuclear Meltdown in Japan" 3/13/11 http://rense.com/general93/nucmelt.htm)
For years, Helen Caldicott warned it’s coming. In her 1978 book, "
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or face extinction. No one listened. The Doomsday Clock keeps ticking.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
Obama will now and Ohio is key – 77.4% chance now.

Nate Silver 10/31, 538, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

Mr. Obama made gains in the FiveThirtyEight forecast on Tuesday, with his chances

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Mr. Obama, did not publish results on account of Hurricane Sandy.

Err to evidence from 538 – Nate Silver is awesome.

Leigh Bureau ‘10 the world’s preeminent lecture bureau, “Nate Silver,” http://www.leighbureau.com/speaker.asp?id=498

Nate Silver has been called a "spreadsheet psychic" and "number-crunching

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correctly predicted the presidential winner in 49 states and the District of Columbia.¶

FIT unpopular- taxes and divides environmentalists

Carus 8-21

Felicity is a former Guardian Environmental reporter and reports from California on changes in energy policy, “Bill Clinton: fan of solar feed-in-tariffs thinks we should “get” the clean energy tattoo,” http:~/~/www.pvtech.org/editors_blog/bill_clinton_fan_of_solar_feed_in_tariffs_thinks_we_should_get_the_clean_org/editors_blog/bill_clinton_fan_of_solar_feed_in_tariffs_thinks_we_should_get_the_clean_en

Feed-in-tariffs are a controversial subject in the US where the energy

AND

to the dramatically under-descriptive CLEAN programmes designed by the Clean Coalition.¶

Renewables not a win for Romney

Danko 10/2 (Pete, Earth Techling, “Polls: On Energy, Swing Voters Swing Clean” 10/2/12 http://www.earthtechling.com/2012/10/on-air-and-energy-swing-state-voters-swing-clean/)

If Mitt Romney beats Barack Obama, it won’t be because voters want to turn

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57 of voters overall and 60 percent of swing voters backing government subsidies.

Energy irrelevant even if it’s campaigned on.

Washington Post 6-27 The Washington Post, 6/27/2012 Energy ads flood TV in swing states,  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/energy-ads/2012/06/27/gJQAD5MR7V_story.html)

Energy issues don’t spark much excitement among voters, ranking below health care, education

AND

asked to rank their top issues, fewer than 1 percent mention energy.

Hurricane Sandy overwhelms plan.

Bob King, Politico, 10/26/12, Election in Sandy's shadow, dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=938E15A3-DAB9-4528-8471-303B15DEC7CC

4) The distraction: As with Hurricane Irene last year, Sandy is threatening

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from closing the deal in states where he’s still behind, like Ohio.

US will maintain hegemony even with defense cuts

Xinhua 6/5 (Xinhua, Meifang Zhang warned that China’s expanding military power not to repeat the mistakes of the Soviet Union, China News, 6/5/11, NP, http:~/~/www.cnkeyword.info/meifang-zhang-warned-that-chinas-expanding-military-power-not-to-repeat-the-mistakes-of-the-soviet-union/http://www.cnkeyword.info/meifang-zhang-warned-that-chinas-expanding-military-power-not-to-repeat-the-mistakes-of-the-soviet-union/ DM)

Gates said the U.S. military activities in the Asia-Pacific to

AND

the U.S. will abide by its security commitments in Asia. 

Defense cuts won’t happen – political bargaining

Friedman, Defense Fellow at Cato, and Logan, Director of Foreign Policy at Cato, ’12 (Benjamin- PhD Candidate PolSci at MIT, and Justin; Spring, “Why the U.S. Military Budget is ‘Foolish and Sustainable’” Orbis)

Sequestration, however, is unlikely to occur. Neither the White House nor either

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, their first act might be to prevent sequestration by cutting other spending.

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Socialism must embrace the causes of other oppressions if it is to ever be successful

Foster 05

 John Bellamy, University of Oregon, "The Renewing of Socialism: An Introduction," THE MONTHLY REVIEW v. 57 n. 3, July-August 2005. Available from the World Wide Web at: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0705jbf.htm , accessed 4/12/06.

Socialism cannot survive unless it transcends not only class divisions that divide off those who

AND

be overcome as a necessary part of the struggle for a socialist society.

Resistance to capital is futile and dangerous – natural hierarchies of power are inevitable and sustain peace

Wilkinson 5

Will, Academic Coordinator of the Social Change Project and the Global Prosperity Initiative at The Mercatus org/wiki/Mercatus_Center at George Mason org/wiki/George_Mason_University, Capitalism and Human Nature, Cato Policy html Vol. XXVII No. 1

Emory professor of economics and law Paul Rubin usefully distinguishes between "productive" and

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the human taste for hierarchical status, but to no one's serious detriment.

-- Can’t outweigh or turn case – geopolitics not based on capital.

Shaw, ’85 (Sociology Lecturer – Hull, Marxist Sociology Revisited, p. 266-7)

We can start by discussing more explicitly what increasingly looks like the Achilles heel of

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, when it is often latent or implicit, as in war itself.

Turn - De-development would require a massive human die-off.

Lewis 94 (Martin, lecturer in international history and interim director of the program in International Relations at Stanford University, Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism, Page 25-26) 

No one acquainted with the rudiments of medical history could deny that health has vastly

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not impossible to maintain without first experiencing a truly massive human die off.

Renewable energy development represents a crucial moment to transition away from capitalism and the unsustainable parts of growth – alternative alone fails.

David Schwartzman, Department of Biology – Howard University, 12 (Capitalism Nature Socialism, 23:1)

Bonaiuti and Latouche critique the capitalist mode of production but are rather vague with respect

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and the quality of life for all, especially in the global South.

Turn – the “Act” is impossible, leads to authoritarianism, and silences other forms of resistance. We should endorse the transformative effects of particular acts – ie the plan.

Robinson and Tormey, ‘4 (Nottingham, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/simon.tormey/articles/Zizeknotradical.pdf)

The history of resistance gives little reason to support Zizek’s politics of the Act.

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to bring the ‘no-where’ into the ‘now-here’.

Extinction outweighs - ethics demands you evaluate our impact first.

Seeley, ’86 (Central Comm. for Conscientious Objectors, Handbook of Non-Violence, p. 269-70)

In moral reasoning prediction of consequences is nearly always impossible. One balances the risks

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is real enough to make nuclear war utterly impermissible under any sane moral code

The “constitutive lack” is a social myth that’s politically repressive.

Robinson, ‘5 (University of Nottingham Political Theory PhD, Theory and Event, Vol. 8, No. 1)

The theoretical underpinnings of political Lacanianism typically rely on a "postmodern" disdain for

AND

accused of being "dangerous" as to be accused of being wrong.

An ethics of the real is an ethics of violence and justifies the worst forms of fascism – a concern for consequences doesn’t fall into this trap and offers radical political potentials.

Boucher, ‘3 (Cultural Studies Prof -- Melbourne, August, http://materialiresistenti.blog.dada.net/archivi/2003-08-25)

The answer, then, to Žižek’s question (“is not Lacan’s entire theoretical edifice

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to substitute moral judgement for the rational cognition of alternative claims (“moralism”).

Our truth claims are true—

consensus of field experts

Ferguson 2 – Professor of Political Science, Rutgers (Yale, International Relations and the “Third Debate”, ed Jarvis, p 157,)

Although there may be no such thing as “absolute truth… need (or prefer) to “know.”

empirics

Wendt 2k – Prof International Security and PolSci, Ohio State (Alexander, On the Via Media, Review of International Studies 26,)

In the book I argue that, compared to ontology-talk, the value

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our field, and the varied tools at our disposal for answering them.

Only government action solves ecological problems—perm allows a reorientation of the state to solve your offense

Robyn Eckersley 4, professor of political science at University of Melbroune (The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty, pg. 5-6)

While acknowledging the basis for this antipathy toward the nation­-state, and the

AND

advance ecological emancipation without also engaging with and seeking to transform state power.

Capitalism not the root cause of war and the alt doesn’t solve

Martin 90

Brian Martin, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia, Uprooting War, 1990 edition http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/90uw/uw13.html

The discussion so far concerns capitalist firms within a particular state. The wider question

AND

and bureaucracy which are mobilised to support capitalism as well as other interests

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
We meet—

1. FITS are financial incentives

Siegel 11. (Bari Faye, technology writer and marketing consultant for Noveda Technologies. “When It Comes to Rebates, SRECs Make Long-Term Sense.” Written for Clean Techies. 07/20/11. http:~/~/blog.cleantechies.com/2011/07/20/when-it-comes-to-rebates-srecs-make-long-term-sense/http://blog.cleantechies.com/2011/07/20/when-it-comes-to-rebates-srecs-make-long-term-sense/)

One of the most important factors in moving the United States over from conventional to

AND

feed-in-tariff system doesn’t deal with quotas or minor goals.

1. We reduce restrictions by mandating grid access

Hutton 8. (John, BA and BCL and a member of the House of Lords. Written for Metering.com. “Distributed energy an option to increase renewable growth in U.K.” June 26, 2008. http:~/~/www.metering.com/node/12867url:http://www.metering.com/node/12867)

Other proposals include introducing a new financial … technologies should be encouraged.

Counter-Interpretation—Financial Incentives are ONLY per kwh payments—no “its” in the resolution means we don’t have to increase government incentives

Pace and Gatrell 9. (James, Masters in Geography from Indiana State University AND Jay D., PhD in Geography. “Spatial Analysis, Policy, Planning, and Alternative Energy Production.” 02/03/09 http:~/~/www.springerlink.com/content/h65n12q537383q47/pdf)

The last tool used to promote renewable energy production is to provide financial incentives.

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billion (43.7%) of all Federal incentives (Bezdek 2007).

Prefer our interpretation:

A. Precision—our contextual interp is key to limits

Gold 99. (Marsha, Dr.Sc., “Financial Incentives” January 1999. http:~/~/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1496870/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1496870/)

To enhance understanding, financial incentives should be looked at in context. The following

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cannot be predicted). Quality oversight features may detect faulty responses to incentives.

B. Predictability—feed in tariffs are the most predictable and widely discussed mechanism for increasing energy production

Soerensen and Rousseau 9*. (Hans Chr., PhD and Vice President of the European Ocean Energy Administration AND Nathalie, B.A. in Information and Communications Technology and Director of the European Ocean Energy Administration *Unable to find exact publish date, but most recently cited work is a paper for the IEE published in October 2009. “Best Practice” a report by Waveplam. http:~/~/www.waveplam.eu/files/downloads/best_practiceD2.3_pdf)

The three most used kWh based financial incentives are • Feed-in tariff •

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and/or abandoned projects will not be able to recover this share.

C. Aff Ground—pricing regime aff’s are the only way to effectively access renewables on this topic

Farrell 09

John, John Farrell is a research associate on the New Rules Project at the ¶ Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where he examines the benefits of ¶ local ownership and dispersed generation of renewable energy. “Feed-in Tariffs in America ¶ Driving the Economy with Renewable ¶ Energy Policy that Works” http:~/~/www.boell.de/downloads/ecology/FIT_in_America_pdf

The Power of Feed-in Tariffs¶ In the United States, renewable energy

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benefits than alternative policies for the same level of renewable energy ¶ deployment.