It’s Thursday, April 25, and Washington and Nevada just joined the 100 percent renewable club.
The peer pressure to clean up the electric grid is gripping the country. Recent weeks have brought a flurry of ambitious clean-energy pledges.
On Earth Day, Nevada’s governor signed into law a measure banning fossil-fuel generated electricity by 2050. Washington’s legislature just sent a bill to Governor Jay Inslee (a 2020 presidential contender) that would have the Evergreen State running on purely carbon-free electricity by 2030.
Last month, New Mexico committed to 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii,, and Puerto Rico passed similar laws in the past several months. There are similar bills pending in Illinois, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, and Massachusetts. And don’t forget the 100-odd cities — from Orlando, Florida to Pueblo, Colorado — that have vowed to kick their own fossil-fuel addictions.
“Voters and state legislatures are being pretty darn clear that there’s widespread support for getting the electricity sector to 100 percent clean,” said Josh Freed, who runs the energy program at the Third Way think tank in Washington, D.C. “In our wildest expectations, we couldn’t have anticipated this much action this quickly.”
The Smog
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