More and more renewable energy experts are recognizing that renewable electricity standards are a key driver of new renewable energy in the United States. A renewable electricity standard—also known as a renewable portfolio standard or RPS—is a cost-effective, market-based policy that requires electric utilities to gradually increase their use of renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, and bioenergy. Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted renewable standards, which UCS projects will result in the development of more than 46,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy by 2020. If our country's leaders implemented a national 20 percent by 2020 renewable standard, then we could increase our total renewable energy capacity to 180,000 MW, while providing significant economic and environmental benefits.  

Here is what just some of the experts have to say about the renewable electricity standard:

• "RPS also will be the most important driver for new renewables in the United States and Canada over the next ten years." This was a key finding in "The Changing Face of Renewable Energy," an October 2003 study prepared by Navigant Consulting on behalf of a group of U.S. and Canadian energy and utility companies. For more information, click here.

• "Renewable portfolio standards or purchase mandates are the most powerful tool that a state can use to promote wind energy." Lori Bird, et al. from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released "Policies and Market Factors Driving Wind Power Development in the United States." The report explores the factors that have been driving utility-scale U.S. wind energy development, and found that state-level renewable electricity standards appear to be the most effective policy. To view this report, click here.

• "In 2001, 75 percent of the wind power developed in the United States was within those states with renewable energy requirements." Statement by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBL) Ryan Wiser in a January 9, 2004, article in The Olympian.

• "The option that elicits the highest [willingness to pay] in the [contingent valuation] survey is the RPS: collective payment, with private provision." In August 2003, LBL's Ryan Wiser released "Using Contingent Valuation to Explore Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy: A Comparison of Collective and Voluntary Payment Vehicles." The report found that U.S. households express a higher willingness to pay for collective efforts to support renewable energy—especially policies such as renewable electricity standards—over voluntary efforts such as green marketing or pricing. To view the report, click here.

• State-level renewable electricity standards, along with the federal production tax credit for wind, will be the primary drivers of new renewable energy growth in the United States through 2015. This was a key finding in Platts Research & Consulting's July 2003 report, Renewable Power Outlook 2003. To purchase the report, click here.

• "Renewable portfolio standards have emerged as an effective and popular tool for promoting renewable energy." In Renewable Energy and State Economies, a May 2003 report by the Council of State Governments, Barry Hopkins listed the RPS as one of the two most effective and popular options (along with public benefits funds) for stimulating renewable energy growth and providing important economic opportunities for states.

• Existing and new renewable electricity standards are key components to achieving a "50 gigawatt" U.S. renewable energy growth scenario. Presentation made by Steven Taub, Director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates' Emerging Generation Technologies Group, at the Second Annual Conference of the American Council For Renewable Energy in July 2003. For more information, click here (free registration required).