Yesterday, Colorado's state legislature finalized a bill to increase the state's renewable energy standard to 30 percent by 2020.
Colorado was one of the first states to adopt a renewable energy standard at all, committing in 2004 to get 10 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2015 and increasing that to 20 percent by 2020 in 2006. This latest measure puts the state right behind California, who has the highest standard at 33 percent by 2020.
The bill also requires utilities to get 3 percent of their electricity from distributed sources like rooftop solar and other smaller wind and solar installations in order to give a boost to local renewable energy and construction companies. That requirement alone will be responsible for 1 GW of clean energy, save 6.8 billion gallons of water and reduce emissions by 30 million tons of CO2 a year.
via Climate Progress
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written by Khephran, March 10, 2010
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written by Jason, March 14, 2010
Before renewable energy is utilized, it's vital to decrease energy use first. Replace old appliances with Energy Star, use all outdoor solar lights instead of conventional, and insulate your home.
When both strategies are used, energy use and emissions will decrease drastically!
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written by Mitchell, March 18, 2010
Traditional systems such as coal, nuclear and other energy sources are easily controlled. Modern day power plants use digital controllers which have the power produced by these plants 'follow' the load, as it changes throughout the day.
It will take a lot of infrastructure to make these renewable systems efficient and easily controlled. This comes at the cost of a reduced emission benefit, at least in the short term. If these states want to really meet these targets, they have a long, long way to go.
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written by Chas Clifton, May 11, 2010
Instead, they build big projects far from a city, covering acres and acres of pasture or desert with panels that then require more new transmission lines to bring that power to the consumer.
And you help them "greenwash" it all.[removed]void(0);
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written by Arvind Kumar, June 20, 2010
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written by Renewable energy sources, June 30, 2010
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