• The NJ Department of Environmental Protection and NJ Board of Public Utilities have leadership roles in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a ten state cooperative effort to implement a regional mandatory cap and trade program in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic addressing CO2 emissions from power plants.
  
  
• The first mandatory market-based program to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S., the program will cap regional power plant CO2 emissions at approximately current levels from 2009 through 2014 and reduce emissions 10% by 2019.
  
  
• On August 15, 2006, a set of model regulations establishing the cap-and-trade program was released. Each participating RGGI state will now proceed to adopt these regulations, either by rulemaking or legislation.

• The BPU implements the New Jersey Clean Energy Program, a ratepayer-funded program which provides financial and other incentives to encourage more efficient energy usage, and in state electricity generation using renewable energy sources. The program encourages installation of energy-efficient and renewable electricity generation technologies. The Clean Energy Program offers a comprehensive suite of programs that makes clean energy technologies affordable and accessible to residential customers, businesses, schools and local governments:

• Residential Energy Efficiency & Assistance Programs -- The Clean Energy Program offers a number of programs to homeowners that help improve residential energy efficiency. These include energy audits and efficiency improvement recommendations; incentives for energy-efficient construction in Smart Growth Areas; consumer education about the federal ENERGY STAR® program; aid to income eligible households; and rebates for energy efficient heating and cooling equipment.
• Commercial Clean Energy Programs – The Clean Energy Program also offers a series of programs to support businesses, schools and governments: the NJ SmartStart Buildings Program enables energy efficiency upgrades for new & existing buildings; incentives are available to increase industrial energy efficiency by utilizing the waste heat a factory generates; and financing programs, including incentives and low-interest loans, are available to small businesses, schools and local governments.
• Renewable Energy Programs – To increase the use of renewable energy technologies in New Jersey, the Clean Energy Program oversees several assistance and incentive programs: a rebate program to reduce up-front purchase and installation costs for solar, small wind and sustainable biomass (e.g., plants to energy) systems; support to owners and sellers of solar renewable energy certificates, a marketable commodity; the CleanPower Choice Program which enables voluntary purchases of green energy through local electric utilities; renewable energy project grants & financing for larger projects as well as grants for commercializing new technologies in partnership with the NJ Economic Development Authority; and technical and financial assistance for clean energy businesses.

• Governor Corzine has established a goal of meeting 20% of New Jersey’s energy needs through energy efficiency and conservation gains by 2020.

• The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Division of Science, Research & Technology (DSRT) is issuing a Solicitation for Research Proposals (SRP) in order to address the need for baseline ecological/natural resource data as recommended by the State of New Jersey Blue Ribbon Panel on Development of Wind Turbine Facilities in Coastal Waters. The objective of this study is to conduct baseline studies in waters off New Jersey’s coast to determine the current distribution and usage of this area by ecological resources. The scope of work includes the collection of data on the distribution, abundance and migratory patterns of avian, marine mammal, sea turtle and other species in the study area over an 18-month period.
  To download a copy of the solicitation proposal, please select this link
  
  
• A DEP-managed project recently demonstrated the energy-saving potential of a wireless energy management system (EMS) capable of providing low-cost energy efficiency retrofits in existing facilities. The technology, by reducing energy use in the DEP Building (the test location), provided a 6.5 month payback period. Savings in energy usage for the relevant period of the test was 5,347,183 thousand BTUs, a 38% decrease compared to the same period prior to installation. The project's objective was to evaluate the performance of this innovative energy management system (using both wireless environmental monitoring and wired system controls) with a focus on regulating the building’s existing hot water heaters, main air handlers, and air intake dampers, including economizer devices (these control and vary the amount of outside [fresh] air brought into a structure); limiting unnecessary intake and conditioning of outside air, based on carbon dioxide concentrations inside the building; and, ensuring temperature set back during unoccupied times.
  
  
• DEP has funded and participated in research relating to various aspects of climate change impacts. Among the topics studied are: future impact scenarios, especially as related to NJ’s water resources; urban heat island effect in Camden; sea level rise along the NJ coast.

In the recent past, DEP worked with companies, universities and other organizations to develop voluntary greenhouse gas reduction covenants under which the firm or organization commits to pursue energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Signatories include eight companies, 56 colleges and universities, 15 municipalities, the New Jersey School Board and Greenfaith (formerly Partners for Environmental Quality), a faith-based organization.

Activities at the Municipal Level
DEP’s Environmentally Sustainable Communities Initiative works with municipalities and counties that strive to adopt more sustainable practices within the government, residential and business sectors. Among the strategies advanced are those which reduce greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., energy efficiency, renewable energy) and increase green design, building and landscaping.

(It should also be noted that twenty-three NJ towns to date have signed onto the US Mayors’
Climate Protection Agreement, a voluntary, non-binding commitment to reduce municipal
greenhouse gas emissions 7% below 1990 levels by 2012.)