California: Our Renewable Energy Leader?
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill requiring California utilities to get 33% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Up from a current 20% requirement, this bill will create among the most rigid renewable energy requirements in the country.
Economically, the bill has garnered mixed responses, with proponents believing that higher renewable requirements will stimulate the states’ green economy industries and create jobs in these up-and-coming sectors. Opponents claim that the increased electricity costs that will be passed along to electricity consumers will offset any new jobs gained through the legislation.
California businesses, Mr. DiCaro says, already pay 50 percent more for electricity on average than businesses in the rest of the United States. For manufacturers in particular, electricity expenses make up a substantial portion of their operating budget. As a result, plants are moving or are being created outside the state.
However, as previously discussed here, Energy Secretary Steven Chu has already announced his predictions that renewable energy sources will be competitive with traditional fossil fuel electricity within the decade.
“This is a very big deal for the world in setting standards in the face of change,” says Pritpal Singh, professor at Villanova University’s College of Engineering in Pennsylvania. “It is certainly going to have an accelerating influence on the shifting by other states and nations to more green technology.”
While the economic impacts of energy security and increasing our renewable energy supply continue to be debated in policy circles, the clean energy sectors in California and elsewhere continue to develop and grow. If current predictions continue to show renewables becoming more easily integrated into our energy sources and economic sectors, regulations such as this could become more attractive to lawmakers across the country.
