Finally a federal renewable portfolio standard?

Caution CO2
Scientists are 90% confident that anthropogenic carbon emissions, of which coal fired electric power stations are the single biggest contributor, correlate to climate changes that could well become catastrophic.

For the fourth time Congress is attempting to pass a federal “renewable portfolio standard” for electricity production. According to Yahoo! News three times before such a bill passed the Senate, only to fail to receive approval from a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The bill’s major co-sponsor and chairman of the Senate energy panel, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from New Mexico, is confident that, with Democrats now controlling the House, a federal standard can be set, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

Bingaman said he would try to modify the legislation on the Senate floor to include a requirement that 15 percent of U.S. electricity supplies be generated by solar, wind and other renewable energy sources by 2020.

As previously noted more than 20 states have established renewable portfolio standards. Also, certain states have established initiatives that foster development of renewable energy sources. And, as just reported, 10 states have joined to create the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade program in the United States.

According to the Reuters story, the proposal before the Senate is at least as stringent as 12 states now have in effect. “This is an issue where the states are ahead of the federal government,” said Bill Wicker, spokesman for Bingaman and the Senate Energy Committee. “There is no federal preemption of existing state renewable portfolio standards.”

2 Comments

jcwinnie

Posted 2007-5-9 at 4:21 pm | Permalink

Treehugger reports:

Good metrics are a necessity for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from stationary sources. “Good” means everyone uses an agreed-to baseline year, to which all changes are compared, uniform methods for estimating emissions, and validation by third parties. With good metrics, plans for reduction, regardless of whether they are voluntary or mandatory, will be of higher value. The Climate Registry meets all these prerequisites. That’s why the Climate Registry’s newly increased scope is important. “Led by California, 31 states representing more than 70% of the U.S. population announced Tuesday that they would measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions by major industriesâ€¦State officials, along with some industrial groups and environmentalists, say the registry is a crucial precursor to both mandatory and market-based regulation of industrial gases that contribute to warming. All agree that the most important part of the new registry is subjecting emissions statistics to third-party verification â€” unlike a Bush administration program that does not require verificationâ€¦California registry officials worked closely with New England states to develop the system. The new registry will be based in Washington, D.C., and will have regional offices. It will begin tracking data in January. Two Canadian provinces, British Columbia and Manitoba, also have signed on.” Reminds us of the internet. Data flows automatically route around damaged servers. Via Los Angeles Times.
jcwinnie

Posted 2009-4-3 at 10:52 am | Permalink

Writing for Renewable Energy World, Jeff Postelwait cautions that there are pitfalls, as well as potential, with a U.S. Federal RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard). Commentary to the article also is edifying.

One Trackback

By More Dependable Transmission Loading Relief at After Gutenberg on 2007-5-9 at 10:47 am

[...] is coming from states with considerable wind resources (potential and being built) the U.S. Senate may vote later this month on an energy bill that would by 2020 require that 15 percent of U.S. electricity [...]

After Gutenberg