“Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have some form of renewable requirement or good-faith objective. Some, like Minnesota, are proposing strengthening the RPS. Colorado, for example, which currently has a 10% by 2015 RPS, is considering a 20% by 2020 standard.” Note the correspondence to states where wind power initiatives are underway.
Green Car Congress reports that Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) has introduced a federal renewable portfolio standard bill. HR 969 is a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by 14 other Representatives. If passed, this Federal legislation would mandate 20% renewable energy by 2020. While Sweden has committed to complete freedom from oil, the United States is finding it difficult to commit to a reduction of 25% in the same time period.
Meanwhile, the state of Minnesota is the most recent state to pass a RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard). On 22 February, the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty signed into law a requirement that by 2025 25% of the state’s electricity must come from renewable power sources. “Currently, half of Minnesota’s power is coal-generated, and renewables account for only about 5%.”
The RPS legislation replaces a voluntary, renewable energy objective enacted in 2003. Minnesota’s utilities had “to make a good faith effort to generate or to procure 10% of their power from eligible renewable energy technologies by 2015.”
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“Why Do We Need A National Renewable Electricity Standard?” from Union of Concerned Scientists fact sheet “Renewable Electricity Standards at Work in the States”
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