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ARLINGTON, Virginia, US, June 21, 2006
(Refocus Weekly)
A growing portion of electricity in the United
States is being provided by renewables, and individual states
increasingly are using “aggressive and ambitious” green power
mandates to spur economic development and create a reliable and
diversified supply of power.
“If we are to successfully address climate change, we must
increase our use of renewable energy,” says Eileen Claussen of the
Pew Center on Global Climate Change. “States are leading on
renewables, as they are in so many aspects of climate policy.”
“Engagement between states and federal policymakers on this issue
has been surprisingly limited and is long overdue,” she adds. “We
need to begin thinking both about how the federal government can be
most effective in this arena, and also how to enhance interstate
collaboration.”
Twenty-two states and the capital District of Columbia have
implemented Renewable Portfolio Standards, and more than half of
U.S. consumers now live in a states where a RPS is in operation,
explains ‘Race to the Top: the Expanding Role of US State Renewable
Portfolio Standards.’ Author Barry Rabe of the University of
Michigan builds on earlier Pew Center analyses of the state role in
climate policy development and says the proliferation of RPS at the
state level provides real-world models of whether a federal RPS may
be a feasible option to increase the country’s use of renewables as
part of a larger energy and climate change policy.
Despite the many advantages of state RPS, states also face
challenges due to capacity constraints on transmission, differential
treatment of various green power sources, as well as siting concerns
for green power facilities. The biggest future challenge will
revolve around the need for inter-state collaboration and dialogue
as the questions of cooperation across state boundaries arise, the
report predicts, but ultimately, federal and state regulators will
need to work together in the event of adoption of a federal RPS.
States are cooperating regionally and that pattern is likely to
continue, but there is much the federal government could do to
enable a significant expansion of renewables, it concludes. The Pew
Center's Agenda for Climate Action recommends that renewables be a
key element of energy for the U.S. and says federal efforts will be
needed in funding for R&D and technology development.
“Although there is no single technological or policy solution to
climate change and energy independence in the U.S., renewable energy
is clearly destined to play an important role in the years to come,
and now is the time to lay the foundation,” says Claussen.
The Pew Center was established in 1998 by one of the largest
philanthropies in the U.S., to serve as an independent and
non-partisan information organization.
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