See all our posts and activity about water issues.
Green Means Go!
Gov. Brown Gives Renewable Energy Goals The Green Light
Planned renewable power generation will juice up California’s economy, benefit the environment
(Milpitas, CA) — California Governor Jerry Brown today signed SB x1 2, requiring public and private utilities to obtain 33 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The new renewable power standard (RPS) established by the bill will electrify the Golden State’s economy with new jobs, while reducing the pollution that causes climate disruption.
“With one action – enacting a 33 percent RPS – California is giving clean energy investors a green light to infuse new life into the state’s clean-tech economy,” said Jim Metropulos, Senior Advocate, Sierra Club California. Sierra Club California has long called on California lawmakers to increase the standard to at least 33 percent by 2020.
Simply increasing the required amount of renewable power generated by utilities won’t provide the full environmental and economic potential, Metropulos said. Sierra Club California is urging additional reforms to ensure the continued success of a renewable energy program and provide green jobs.
In designing a new approach to renewable energy, the Brown Administration and the California Legislature can look to programs that already work. A program, known as a “feed-in tariff,” has already been successful in international markets, including in Germany. A “feed-in tariff” sets fixed prices for renewable energy that is added to the electrical grid by home and business owners with renewable energy on their roofs or other privately-owned areas, rewarding investors exhausted by the roller-coaster of our current system and ensuring that local jobs are created as California pursues clean energy development. In his Clean Energy Jobs Plan, Governor Brown calls for California to develop 12,000 megawatts of localized energy by 2020 through a system of calibrated renewable power payments.
“California is once again taking the lead in setting achievable goals and developing new sources of clean, renewable power,” said Metropulos. “Now, California can power up its estimated 100,000 megawatts of developable in-state renewable energy capacity, and build renewable energy partnerships with neighboring states. We can keep California’s momentum going by continuing to make policy choices that treat clean and safe renewable energy as a priority for California’s environment and its economy.
- # # # -
California Leads the Way on Renewable Energy (2011)
Governor Brown Gives Renewable Energy Goals the Green Light! (2011)
