Renewable Energy: How It Will Happen

Jeff Deyette
December 19, 2006

Jeff Deyette is a clean energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Overshadowed by the national midterm election results was news of actions in two states that have created new opportunities for moving toward energy independence while advancing a smart and affordable solution in the fight against global warming.

In Washington, voters turned out in strong numbers to adopt a renewable electricity standard, a requirement that electric utilities gradually increase their use of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. Under the initiative, the state's largest utilities are required to furnish 15 percent of their electric power from renewable sources by 2020. In addition, the initiative requires Washington utilities to pursue low-cost energy conservation opportunities with their customers. Washington is the 21st state, plus the District of Columbia, to adopt a renewable standard. It’s the ninth state to do so in just the last two years, and the second via a ballot initiative.

One week prior to the election, power regulators in Arizona opted to boost that state's existing renewable standard to 15 percent by 2025, up from the more modest previous requirement of 1.1 percent by 2007. Arizona is the ninth state to increase or accelerate its existing renewable standard since 2004, demonstrating the effectiveness and popularity of the policy.

Both of these victories are further evidence of the growing number of states that are taking the lead in building long-term markets for clean energy technologies, which is a significant step forward in reducing power plant production of carbon dioxide (CO2). Power plants are the leading U.S. source of CO2, the heat-trapping gas primarily responsible for global warming. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the new policies in Washington and Arizona will cut 12.2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually by 2025—equivalent to taking nearly 1.9 million cars off the road. Altogether state standards will eliminate the equivalent of 14 million cars.

These examples of state leadership are creating a growing momentum for action on renewable energy in Congress. At least four new Democratic Senate members and more than 15 of the new members in the House have indicated their support for measures that would encourage the use of more renewable energy. The new chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has championed a federal standard that has passed the Senate three times. He has vowed to bring the measure before that body early in the new legislative session. On the House side, Speaker-elect Pelosi, D-Calif., has indicated that she will move within the first 100 days of the new Congress to eliminate some tax breaks for big oil companies and apply that money to programs to encourage the development of renewable energy. With these indicators, new incentives for renewable energy are seen as having the best chance of passage in over a dozen years.

A 2004 Union of Concerned Scientists analysis found that a national renewable standard—20 percent by 2020—would save consumers $49 billion, while slashing the projected growth in power plant CO2 emissions by more than half. It would also create 157,500 more jobs than the business-as-usual fossil fuel future and provide new income for struggling rural communities.

With only five percent of the world's population, the United States produces nearly 25 percent of annual global heat-trapping emissions. We have a responsibility and a compelling interest to significantly reduce these harmful emissions. Renewable electricity standards offer a smart, affordable climate solution with a proven track record. The states are laying the foundation, and it’s time for Congress to follow their lead.