RPS

Electricity from “renewable” sources is fast becoming a multipurpose remedy that will alleviate energy scarcities, abate air pollution, and mitigate climate change. Advocates of renewable energy have a lot to be happy about lately. First they got the stimulus package of their dreams, packed with tax credits and grants and loan programs intended to restart their industry. Now they are turning their attention to the next item on their wish list: a national renewable portfolio standard. President Obama has called for 10 percent of the nation’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal. The NPS will be part of a comprehensive energy bill that contains provisions on everything from the “smart grid” to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The bill would initiate a federal minimum standard mandating retail energy suppliers to diversify their portfolios with the first requirement of six percent for 2012, and consistently increase thereafter until meeting the 2025 goal of 20 percent.



This bill also allows individual states to enact their own RPS type of mechanisms. So far 27 states have acted and created their own RPS type of mechanism. Four of the 27 states have voluntary rather than mandatory goals. Together these 27 states account for more than 42 percent of the electricity sales in the United States. On Friday January 9, 2009 the Florida Public Service Commission unanimously agreed to require the state's utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2020.
This will drastically change the landscape for renewable energy applications for a state that gets less than 3 percent of its power from renewable energy. The proposal calls for 7 percent renewable energy by January 2013, 12 percent by 2016, 18 percent by 2019 and 20 percent by end of 2020.
One of the main advantages of the new bill will be increased job growth. Green jobs have seen a steady incline since 2001. Many reports say that a national “renewable electricity standard” set at 25 percent by 2025 would translate into 297,000 new green jobs. Some jobs would be lost in fossil-fuel industries like coal or natural gas. If those are factored in, according to the report, the net number of jobs gained becomes 202,000.
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