Renewable Energy Standard Pros and Cons – Federally Mandated Utility Participation

The question of what percentage of utilities' output should come from renewable energy sources has been debated by legislators nationwide for years now.  Some 28 states have declared statewide standards on renewable energy use by utilities, such as Colorado’s mandate for utilities to draw 20% of their energy from renewables by 2020.  Right now, a Colorado House of Representatives committee is discussing a bill (House bill 1001) to raise that requirement to 30% by 2020 for both Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy (Source:  DenverPost.com, February 4).  The proposed bill, while it appears to have fairly broad support across the groups involved, is being considered in a state that’s much more conducive to renewable energy generation than say, Alabama may be.  (Photo credit: switchboard.nrdc.org)

The issue of the relative accessibility of renewable energy generation opportunities and the fact that this availability varies greatly across the nation is precisely the concern with some legislation that’s currently in front of the U.S. House of Representatives.  One bill being discussed would require utilities nationwide to derive 15% of their total energy output from renewable sources by 2021 – a number that’s already been reduced from 20% after hearing concerns from utilities on the issue (Source:  RenewableEnergyWorld.com, February 5). (Photo credit: wikimedia.org)

One possible solution to this problem is adopting a specific clause that allows for energy efficiency savings to be factored in to this mandate percentage.  If a given utility can implement an efficiency savings across its customer network of say, 8% between now and 2021, that percentage would likely count toward the overall 15% goal from renewables outlined in any legislation. 

It’s plain see that a state like Arizona may have abundant access to solar energy and Texas may have an abundance of potential wind energy, but that Mississippi may have less opportunity for either.  At the same time, if a reduction in carbon emissions is to be a priority in this country, there has to be either a market-driven or mandated incentive to push states to reach this goal.  While there may be more market-driven incentive in some states terms of the dollars to be earned by achieving these goals (and some federally-funded incentive as well in the form of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars), there are legitimate concerns that these alone are simply not powerful enough.  In addition, if there is no pressure on the states that appear to have fewer resources where renewable energy generation is concerned, these states are less likely to produce more creative solutions, such as using sawdust in place of fossil fuels in the energy generation process (as the previously cited RenewableEnergyWorld.com article mentions).  (Photo credit: scientificamerican.com)

One thing is for certain – it will be interesting to see what comes of these legislative discussions.  My hope is that ingenuity and technological advancement will help every state to reach these goals, whether they arrive at them on their own or via federal mandate.  It's also worth noting here that many utilities are working with each other to produce their own industry guidelines, which is likely to help the cause as well.  For more on utility-driven measures, read more about the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency.