Successes
Recent successes in Clean Energy include:
Strengthening support for a national renewable electricity standard.
Cashing In on Clean Energy, our analysis of a federal standard that would require utilities to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2020, showed that this standard would not only reduce global warming emissions but also create jobs and save consumers money. These findings helped build majorities supporting such a standard in both houses of Congress. Though this provision—faced with a presidential veto—was dropped from the final energy bill, we are closer than we have ever been to achieving victory on this front.
Expanding state-level commitments to renewable energy
UCS contributed to stronger renewable electricity standards in Delaware, Maine, and Minnesota and new standards in Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Oregon—bringing the total number of states with a standard in place to 26. We supplied our allies with valuable information on the design and implementation of state standards through our online Renewable Electricity Standards Toolkit, an interactive database encompassing more than 30 searchable topics ranging from targets to timetables.
