Hawaii, Vermont Set Ambitious Examples for Renewables

June marked two huge milestones in renewable energy in the U.S., with Hawaii and Vermont both passing laws that put in place the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy goals.

Electricity generation is the nation’s largest emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gases, leading many states to set goals for how much of their power should come from low-carbon renewable energy.  Today, 29 states have laws mandating a certain portion of their power to be generated from renewables as a way to combat climate change, but none have gone so far as Hawaii and Vermont.

When Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed the state’s renewable energy bill into law on June 8, the Aloha State became the first in the U.S. to mandate all of its electricity come from renewables. The goal must be met by 2045 not only as a way to reduce Hawaii’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, but also to reduce the cost of the state’s electricity.

Vermont followed Hawaii on June 11 with what may be an even more ambitious goal — to generate 75 percent of the state’s electricity from renewables by 2032, with 55 percent coming from renewables by 2017, less than two years from now.

Overall, the U.S. is a mosaic of commitments to renewable energy.  More than half the states have some goal to boost renewables as a way to shrink their carbon footprints.  California, Maine and New York, for instance, each have a mandate for at least 30 percent of their power to come from renewables.  But other states take a different tack.  Kansas rescinded its renewables mandate earlier this year, turning it into a voluntary goal.  States such as Florida, Idaho, Wyoming and Georgia have no renewables mandate at all.

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