Are mandated renewable energy standards the most efficient way to promote renewable energy. In this post, David argues that legislating goals for renewable energy is picking winners and losers, because many of these renewable energy standards laws mandate specific percentages for say wind or solar. He questions why so many people, in light of the recent nuclear disaster in Japan, have rejected nuclear power and he makes the claim that renewable sources of energy cannot provide baseload electric energy supplies. These are arguments that advocates of wind and solar need to address head on.
The loss of the Democratically controlled Congress, does not spell doom for cleantech. Republicans and Democrats can find common ground in areas like energy efficiency, renewable energy standards, R&D, government procurement, and a gas tax. Additionally, global macro-economic trends will continue to have an impact on our energy policy. by David Gold, Lead Partner for […]
A few weeks ago, the Center for Climate Strategies released a study showing that making national policy of 23 measures already in play in Red and Blue and Purple states across the nation would lead to millions of additional jobs and significant carbon reductions. This study shows, quite clearly, that serious climate mitigation efforts should not be discussed as “cost”, but as “investment” that will lead to significant benefits. Two notable items about this study: 1. The strongly supported conclusion that the more aggressive the action, the greater the economic benefits. and 2. This is a conservative study.
