Renewable Electricity Standard

A federal mandate for renewable electricity could ensure U.S. competitiveness with China on clean fuels and create thousands of home-grown jobs by wooing manufacturers that have been turned off by America's unsteady support for the industry, according to a new study commissioned by an alliance of 19 energy firms and trade groups.

"China is absolutely killing us," said Don Furman, a senior vice president for wind energy company Iberdrola Renewables, a member of the RES alliance.

"America owned this industry 20 years ago," he told reporters. "And we have given it away because we haven't had a coherent national policy supporting renewables."

A renewable electricity standard (RES) would force utilities to get more renewable power on the grid.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama advocated for a renewable electricity standard that would require utilities to obtain 25% of their power from renewable resources by 2025.

By the time the climate bill got through the U.S. House, though, the RES had been watered down to 20% by 2020, with loopholes allowing states to get away with as little as 12%, and even less if they can make carbon capture technology work. Several independent analyses and the EPA have concluded that such a tepid law would spur about as much growth in renewable energy as no federal law at all.

Now, the climate ball is in the Senate’s court, and industry, environmental and trade groups are digging in in an attempt to resuscitate the RES to its full potential as a force that can shift the energy industry's focus from coal to wind, solar and other renewable sources.

The climate bill under discussion in U.S. House would require electric utilities to draw an increasing amount of power from renewable sources, spurring growth of wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy and reducing carbon emissions.

Opponents argue that it would raise consumer's electricity prices too high. But is that true?

The question is critical to whether a final bill contains a Renewable Electricity Standard mandating that retail electric utilities generate 25% of their power from renewable sources by 2025.

The answer, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, is no.