For years, green energy and climate activists have sought to get national legislation mandating that a certain percentage of electricity be generated from renewable sources—a renewable energy (or electricity) standard. Naturally, this has been fought fang and claw by the fossil-fuel interests and their marionettes in Congress, heavily weighted on the Republican side of the aisle but not without Democratic adherents.
As part of his second-term efforts focusing more attention on climate and energy goals, President Obama has worked around the congressional blockers, and he did so again Thursday with an executive order nearly tripling to 20 percent the current goal for the federal government's use of renewable energy. The government currently gets about 7 percent of its energy from such sources, in part as a consequence of an October 2009 executive order. The goal is 10 percent by 2015. From the Associated Press:
The federal government is the largest energy consumer in the nation and "must lead by example," Obama said. The government occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates 600,000 vehicles and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. [...]
"Shoe-horning renewable technologies that cannot deliver the base-load electricity this country needs does no one any good and puts the American economy at risk," said Laura Sheehan, senior vice president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group.
Many renewable energy advocates say the need for, and method of, providing base-load power will change over time as more renewables are added to the energy mix. The fossil-fuel and nuclear industries dispute these claims, of course, but even if there could be problems with base-load power, they would not come into play until renewable power sources contribute far more than than 20 percent of our total electricity.
Environmental groups, such as the League for Conservation Voters, praised Obama's move.
Nathanael Greene, director of Renewable Energy Policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote:
These standards are important. The federal steps, and similar measures that the states are taking, will drive about half of the growth in this sector by 2020. But Congress must also act, and one big step would be to extend current federal tax credits to maintain the job growth already created in the wind, solar and energy-efficiency industries. [...]
The growth in this sector also shows that focusing on clean energy does not pit the economy against the environment. At least 3.4 million Americans are employed nationwide weatherizing homes, producing high-efficiency air conditioning systems, installing solar panels and wind turbines and developing advanced car batteries. The economic shift is already happening, it’s picking up speed, and there’s no turning back.
That fact, however, won't stop certain interests from trying to turn back.