RenewLI ... it's time for a national Renewable Electricity Standard!
It's Time for a National Renewable Energy Standard
A growing number of states have implementented so-called Renewable Energy Standards (aka Renewable Portfolio Standards) in order to reduce oil dependence and global warming pollution.
These standards require utilities to generate a certain portion of their electricity from cleaner energy sources. See Union of Concerned Scientists State RES pages for more information.
New York State's Renewable Portfolio Standard mandates 25% of all the electricity used in the state will be from clean sources by 2013. Currently, hydro-power supplies about 18% of NY’s electricity.
For a FACT SHEET on the NY RPS go to Environmental Advocates of NY RPS Fact Sheet
This policy has proven to be an effective, efficient, and popular driver of expanded renewable energy development. It is time to bring those benefits to the rest of the nation.
So now, we are working with the Union of Concerned Scientists and others to establish national goal for clean electricity.
We need to increase our use of homegrown renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass to 20 percent of America’s electricity by 2020. Increasing our use of renewable energy is critical to reducing global warming pollution, protecting our environment, and strengthening the economy.
Developing our renewable energy resources will create jobs, save consumers money and bolster rural economies. A 20% standard would:
1. save consumers $10 billion
2. reduce carbon emissions as much as taking 43 million cars off the road
3. increase renewable energy production 6 times over current levels.
In addition, by shifting away from fossil fuels, we can diversify and secure our energy supply while reducing global warming pollution. The recently released U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report underscores the urgent need for these reductions.
In time of rising energy costs and the threat of global warming impacts such as sea level rise, increased droughts and more intense tropical storms, we need a new energy future. Increasing our use of renewable energy is a critical step toward a cleaner, more secure energy future. That’s why we strongly support increasing our use of renewable energy to 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
