renewable energy standard

Missouri puts payoff of local power in peril

The Missouri legislature's move to jeopardize the state's renewable energy standard misses the huge economic benefits of local clean energy.

Critical List: Wind turbines get bigger and better; tree-killing fungi are thriving

Wind turbines are becoming bigger, more efficient, and more powerful.

Drilling in the Arctic is not such a hot idea, as any spill will be tricky to clean up.

The Southeast is the only region in the country that hasn’t put renewable energy mandates in place.

Beyond budget cuts: top five policy priorities for clean energy

Even with cuts looming, there are feasible policy steps we could take toward clean energy.

Are renewable portfolio standards worth it?

Renewable portfolio standards may increase ratepayers' electricity bills, but that's a small price to pay for moving toward renewable energy.

Chris Christie systematically destroys all environmental progress in New Jersey

For a while there, New Jersey was doing pretty well on the environmental front, for a state better known for its landfills and gazillion-lane highways than its farms and increasingly rare open spaces. But Chris Christie is working his butt off to make sure that changes. It's not just that he thinks it's normal to […]

AZ Court of Appeals upholds Arizona renewable energy rules

In the ongoing and odd ideological battle against renewable energy, the Goldwater Institute has serially tried to invalidate Arizona’s renewable energy rules, saying the Arizona Corporation Commission didn’t have the authority,  God and the Constitution demand the mythical unsubsidized coal, perhaps a communist plot hmm?, yadada, etc. The AZ Court of Appeals just told them […]

Internationally linking carbon trading systems is the wave of the future

The latest rage in Washington policy discussions these days (that’s relevant to climate change) is renewed interest in renewable electricity standards, this time in the form of so-called “clean energy standards.” I’ve written about this policy approach recently and will do so again in the near future, but for today I want to turn to […]

The conflict at the heart of U.S. energy policy: domestic extraction vs. cheap energy

Imagine you’re out to dinner with your spouse. When the waiter comes, she says, “I’m trying to decide between the house salad and the deep-fried twinkie. Which would you recommend?” You might think many things, but “she sure knows what she wants” is not one of them. Now shift to Washington D.C., where we are […]

Bingaman tries to make policy out of Obama’s hopey-changey Clean Energy Standard

Is Obama wasting Sen. Bingaman’s time?Photo: The White HouseIn his State of the Union speech, Obama introduced an ambitious plan to encourage clean energy in the U.S. At least I think it was ambitious. Kinda hard to tell — it was vague. Thinking about it since, I’ve come to see the Clean Energy Standard (CES) […]