What states, if any, have renewable energy goals over the next few decades

Factual Questions
1

Years ago I used to get info from groups that wanted 25% of energy from renewable sources by 2025, or 20% by 2020, etc.

I believe California is setting a goal of 33% of energy from renewables by 2020. I wouldn’t be surprised if they move that up after 2020.

Do other states have laws or goals for renewable energy over the next few decades?

According to this Maryland wants 20% by 2022.

2

This dates from 2011 but there’s an interactive map here:
http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/interactive-map-to-compare-states-renewable-energy-goals

3

Thanks. I wonder why the pacific northwest is doing so well with renewable energy. Washington, Oregon & Idaho have 60-80% as renewables already. I’m guessing hydropower, I don’t know if a state like Idaho would install large amounts of wind and solar to get to 86% renewables.

4

All states listed here with details

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?SearchType=RPS&&EE=0&RE=1

5

Didn’t see Tennessee’s Green Power Switch listed.

6

Yes, right guess:

7

Yeah, it’s massive hydropower resources combined with low populations. Washington’s standard of 15% by 2020 does not include the enormous installed base on hydropower, and utilties can’t add more hydropower, unless it’s from efficiency improvement.

8

Seems the hydro policies for Washington and Oregon are different (didn’t find details), but in California, new hydro must be < 30 MW to qualify (pretty small). Most of our rivers are dammed already anyway.

9

I have one of these micro hydro systems being built on my property. Does it count?

http://www.wildnaturesolutions.com/hydro.html

10

I’m surprised that no one has pointed out the following:
Energy usage can be divided into 3 major areas:

  1. Electricity
  2. Transportation (cars, trucks, airplanes…)
  3. Heating (space heating, water heating, industrial process heating…)

While renewable power sources (hydro, wind, solar) are used to some extent in electricity generation they are virtually non-existent in transportation and heating. Yet both the posters in this thread and the articles cited are equating energy and electricity.

11

There are businesses up here in Minnesota keeping quite busy putting solar heating into homes.

Solar electricity generation is still expensive and has a very long payback period, but these heating systems are much better. They use standard parts and are pretty simple to install – basically a black box on the roof, with tubes containing water above it; the water is heated by solar rays and then pumped into the house heating system.

I have friends with such a system on their house; they say it provides nearly all of their heat, the supplemental furnace only kicks in occasionally, like on some of our mid-winter -20º days.