And much of the tax credit driven electrical generation capacity, like wind, will require natural gas backup.

Initally, capacity requirements will utilize excess capacity that exists due to the glut of combustion turbines built during the merchant plant boom.

According to NRDC (per the following excerpt), electrical generation is the only legitimate use of natural gas.

Chapter 3: Creating a Responsible Natural Gas Policy
Natural gas is not sufficiently clean to be considered the long-term answer to America’s energy needs, but it can act as a bridge to greater reliance on cleaner and renewable forms of energy.
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/rep/chap3.asp

Meanwhile, the general strategy seems to be to wean consumers away from the direct use of natural gas. This assumes that electricity will become clean. This does not assume that electricity will stay economic.

Perhaps Soylent Green would also fit into the present definition of “green.”

Strong language, I know, but actually quite accurate. The plant a speculator wants to build near my house would emit more carbon dioxide, particulates and volatile organic compounds per mehawatt hour than the coal plant down the road.

He hopes to make money because the 1990’s era science enshrined in legislation and policy says biomass burning, though both releasing large amounts of CO2 into the air and reducing the carbon-sequestering ability of forests, is somehow O.K.

The anti-biomass movement is growing. Money invested in biomass concerns will be lost as community after community resists the siting of major polluters near their homes and schools.

On a human level, I urge all involved in alternative energy policy and development to think what they would want for their community, for their children, and promote energy sources that are non-polluting and that truly help mitigate global warming.