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A Blueprint For Action: Policy Options to Reduce New Mexico’s Contribution To Global Warming 4/26/2006 Download the full report.

Executive Summary

As the new home of NMPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Mexico can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.

New Mexico could make major strides toward reducing its emissions of global warming pollution over the next several decades—while leading the way toward a clean energy future—by adopting a series of policy strategies to make the state more energy efficient, reduce the use of fossil fuels, and generate cleaner electricity.

Adoption of the 15 policy strategies in this report would move New Mexico toward meeting its goals of reducing global warming pollution to 2000 levels by the year 2012, to 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020 and to 75 percent below 2000 levels by 2050. In the process, these strategies would improve New Mexico’s energy security and begin to make the technological shifts necessary to reduce New Mexico’s emissions of global warming pollution to levels that do not have a harmful effect on the climate.

Even with these strategies, however, New Mexico will still need to take additional steps to reduce its contribution to global warming.

Global warming, caused by humaninduced changes in climate, is a major threat to New Mexico’s future.

• Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide—the leading global warming gas—have increased by 35 percent, a rate of increase unprecedented in the last 20,000 years. Global average temperatures increased by about 1° F during the 20th century, a greater rate of increase than any in the last 1,000 years.

• The effects of global warming are beginning to appear in New Mexico. Average temperatures in the Southwest have increased by 2 to 3° F in the last century, accompanied by changing precipitation patterns and other shifts. And 2005 was the sixth-warmest year in New Mexico since record-keeping began in 1893.

• Average temperatures in the Southwest are projected to increase by 4 to 7° F by 2090, accompanied by changing precipitation patterns. These changes could lead to smaller snowpacks and earlier snow melts—increasing the risk of spring flooding, summer droughts and more intense fire seasons.

Emissions of global warming pollution are on the rise in New Mexico.

• Between 1990 and 2000, New Mexico’s emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use increased by 10 percent. Electricity generation (40 percent) is the largest source of global warming pollution in the state, followed by transportation (19 percent). Energy use in homes, businesses and industry contributes another 15 percent of the state’s emissions. (See Fig. ES-1.)

• New Mexico is on a path that will lead to dramatic increases in global warming emissions over the next several decades. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections of energy consumption growth, New Mexico’s emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use could increase by nearly 50 percent over 2000 levels by 2020, with much of the increase resulting from a projected build-out of new coal-fired electric plants a decade from now. Projections developed for the New Mexico Environment Department suggest that emissions of all global warming gases in the state could increase by 25 percent by 2020.

New Mexico could reduce its contribution to global warming by adopting 15 key policy strategies and encouraging other states in the region to do the same. There are numerous tools available to New Mexico to reduce global warming pollution. The following 15 strategies include a mix of policies that deliver large reductions in global warming pollution with policies that take advantage of readily available savings at low cost, or even net economic benefit, to New Mexico.

The policies include:

Reducing Emissions from the Transportation Sector

1. Adopting the clean cars program, which will put increasing numbers of hybrid-electric cars on New Mexico’s roads and impose limits on vehicle carbon dioxide emissions.

2. Requiring the sale of low-rolling resistance replacement tires that improve vehicle efficiency without negatively affecting safety.

3. Establishing a revenue-neutral “feebate” program to reward the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

4. Requiring automobile insurers to offer pay-as-you-drive automobile insurance, in which insurance rates are calculated by the mile, rewarding those who drive less while potentially reducing accidents.

5. Adopting policies that would reduce growth in vehicle miles traveled by cars and light trucks on New Mexico’s highways, such as measures to reduce sprawling development and encourage the use of transit and other transportation alternatives.

6. Establishing a renewable fuels standard, such that a portion of motor fuel, both gasoline and diesel, comes from renewable sources.

Reducing Emissions from Homes, Businesses and Industry

7. Developing and enforcing stronger commercial and residential building energy codes to improve the energy efficiency of new construction and thereby reduce building-related energy costs and global warming pollution.

8. Adopting appliance efficiency standards for a series of residential and commercial products, saving money for consumers and reducing electric sector emissions.

9. Reducing demand for electricity generation through a tiered electricity pricing structure, where residential consumers are charged higher rates for consuming more energy.

10. Reducing energy use by expanding electricity and natural gas energy efficiency programs.

11. Expanding the use of energy-efficient combined heat and power systems in industry and commercial buildings. Reducing Emissions from Electricity Generation

12. Expanding and strengthening New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standard so that 30 percent of all electricity consumed in New Mexico’s comes from new, clean, renewable sources by 2020.

13. Dramatically increasing the installation of solar energy systems to achieve a goal of 50,000 solar homes by 2020.

14. Preventing a dramatic increase in emissions from coal-fired power plants, using appropriate public policy tools.

Reducing Emissions with Other Strategies

15. Reducing government sector emissions through “lead by example” measures, such as purchasing renewable power, cutting energy consumption in new buildings in half, increasing energy efficiency, and purchasing more efficient vehicles for state fleets.

Adoption of all 15 strategies would reduce global warming pollution while improving New Mexico’s energy efficiency and spurring the development of renewable sources of energy. (See Table ES-1.)

Adoption of the 15 strategies presented in this report would reduce New Mexico’s carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) below reference case projections by 2020. This would achieve 75 percent of the reductions New Mexico would need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. (See Fig. ES-2, next page.)

However, New Mexico will still need to reduce carbon dioxide pollution by a further 8.3 MMTCO2e and achieve parallel reductions in emissions of other global warming pollutants (which make up a quarter of New Mexico’s total global warming emissions) in order to achieve the goal of reducing global warming pollution to 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020.

For New Mexico to live up to its potential of becoming a clean energy state and a leader in the fight against global warming, it is imperative that the state seize every opportunity to begin reducing its emissions.

• New Mexico should promptly adopt the measures in this report and investigate other policy options to reduce global warming emissions, especially with regard to reducing vehicle-miles traveled, addressing projected increases in emissions from freight transport and industry, and encouraging the development of non-fossil, non-nuclear sources of energy.

• New Mexico should begin to plan for the technological and other changes that will be needed to achieve the long-term goal of 75 percent reduction in global warming emissions by 2050, and the ultimate elimination of the state’s contribution to the degradation of the climate.