Research Archives

April 03, 2011, 11:17 PM

On April 4, 2011, American Tradition Institute, American Tradition Partnership and plaintiff Rod Lueck sued the State of Colorado and several officials over the constitutionality of the state's Renewable Energy Standard mandate. The RES requires the state's major utilities (mainly Xcel Energy) to obtain 30 percent of their power generation from "renewable" sources by the year 2020.  Read More

February 15, 2011, 02:05 PM

In March 2004 Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico signed into law Senate Bill 43. This bill required sources of renewable energy to make up 5 percent of the investor-owned electric utilities sales by 2006, and 10 percent by 2011. Beacon Hill Institute applied its STAMP® (State Tax Analysis Modeling Program) to estimate the economic effects of the RPS mandate.  Read More

February 07, 2011, 11:41 AM

In November 2004 Colorado passed Amendment 37, the first voter-approved ballot initiative to create a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in the United States. In 2007 this law was expanded in House Bill 1281 and its current iteration was detailed in House Bill 1001 in 2010. HB 1001 accelerated the timeline such that by 2020, 30 percent of all retail electricity in Colorado must be derived from a renewable source, including energy from solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen derived from renewable sources, biomass and small hydroelectric facilities.  Read More

January 31, 2011, 10:44 AM

In 2005, the Montana Legislature passed the Montana Renewable Power Production and Rural Economic Development Act (the Act) which established a state Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The RPS mandates that public utilities and competitive electricity suppliers obtain a minimum percentage of retail electricity sales from renewable resources. Renewable resources include energy from solar, wind, ocean thermal, ocean wave power, geothermal, hydrogen derived from renewable sources, biomass and small hydroelectric facilities.  Read More

January 28, 2011, 11:17 AM

Efforts to pass cap-and-trade legislation in Washington have failed. The prospects for a bill in the new Congress are remote but possible. The results of the November 2010 elections have effectively placed a hold on federal cap-and-trade legislation for the next two years. 

Despite the victory of cap-and-trade opponents, the new Congress may be pressured to enact a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in response to calls for a level playing field from states with their own RPS programs. President Obama, in his State of the Union speech on January 25, also has called for a national Clean Energy Standard of 80 percent by the year 2035.  Read More

November 04, 2010, 02:26 PM

Demand Side Management advocates’ approach is to use public policy and government force to control the purchases and consumption habits — i.e., the behavior and choices — of citizens.  Read More

October 28, 2010, 05:22 PM

Wind energy promises a clean, renewable resource that uses no fossil fuel and generates zero emissions. Careful examination of the data suggests that the numbers do not add up as expected.  Read More