State By State Clean Energy Leaders
by Mark Spowart • November 26, 2009 • U.S. • 0 Comments
A new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, reveals a state by state comparison of who is doing what.
Often linked to public policies designed to encourage growth and investment, renewable energy development is slowly starting to spread across the United States.
A new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, reveals a state by state comparison of who is doing what.
Often linked to public policies designed to encourage growth and investment, renewable energy development is slowly starting to spread across the United States.
The report, which is current to 2007 tracks the progress of renewable energy projects as well as policies and support mechanisms implemented to encourage development.
It discovered that 8.5% of total electricity generation in 2007 came from renewable resources with hydroelectric supplying the largest portion at 70%. And out the 50 states surveyed in the report, 24 of them were producing at least one gigawatt of electricity from renewable sources.
Some of the other findings included:
• California led the country in non hydroelectric renewable generation.
• South Dakota ranked first overall in growth in non-hydro renewable energy generation between 2001 and 2007.
• Washington led in total renewable generation in 2007 if hydro electric resources are included
• And Maine is number one when also considering state population and gross state product.
• Wind energy accounted for the largest percentage of nationwide growth in renewable generation from in 2001 and 2007, including a 30% increase in 2006 and 2007. Leading wind energy states were Texas, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington.
• All but 14 U.S. states have now adopted renewable energy portfolio standards or goals.
“This is the only report that looks at data from every state and attempts to quantify the links between renewable energy development and policy implementation” said Joyce McLaren the NREL senior energy analyst who led the report team, in a recent interview.
The 212 report contains 101 charts dissecting major renewable energy technologies and policies as well as an extensive appendix listing clean energy resources. While the report provides state by state comparisons, NREL authors said the report is not intended to be a “scorecard”.
