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Which States Use the Most Renewable Energy… And How They Made it Happen

August 17, 2009 By Susan Kraemer 11 Comments

Which state gets 30% of its electricity from renewable power?

Maine. The reason that Maine is ahead of many other states is that it set very high renewable energy goals; very early on. It put a RPS* goal in place in the 1990′s to get 30% renewable energy by 2000 and an additional 1% annually. Maine also gets an additional 22% from its abundant hydro power, bringing technically carbon-free electricity to 55%, but hydro is not included in renewable power counts.

A *Renewable Portfolio Standard requires utilities to buy an increasing percent of power from renewable sources. Result? Renewable energy supplied 30% of their electricity by 2005. Not 35% Still; not too shabby. If you aim high; you’ll get further than with no goals at all.

Photo: Sonia Fridman

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Filed Under: Clean Energy, Climate Change, Energy Policy & Politics Tagged With: 57 percent renewable, Alameda Municipal Power, Alameda Municipal Power 57% renewable, Alameda Power & Telecom, biomass, California 13 percent renewable, climate bill, electranet, feed-in tariff, George Bush RPS Texas, geothermal, H.R. 2454, Iowa 15% wind, Maine 30 percent renewable, Renewable Portfolio Standard, solar, Spain Germany FIT, states renewable energy policy, Texas 8000 MW wind

About Susan Kraemer

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, Earthtechling, and GreenProphet and has been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow and Scientific American.

As a former serial entrepreneur in product design she brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention: solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times.

Follow Susan @dotcommodity on twitter.

http://Web Christian Strong

With fossil fuels becoming more and more scarce, both solar and wind energy should concurrently become more and more prevalent not only within this country, but worldwide. As a native Iowan, I am very proud to discover that my home state is leading the way when it comes to this form of alternative energy.
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JoJo

These Iowa turbines are really cool. I drive by them about 6 times a year and its pretty awe inspiring. They are right next to the interstate between Omaha and Des Moines and are freaking HUGE! They are out there away from the cities and don’t bother anyone but they look surreal at dusk.
JoJo

These Iowa turbines are really cool. I drive by them about 6 times a year and its pretty awe inspiring. They are right next to the interstate between Omaha and Des Moines and are freaking HUGE! They are out there away from the cities and don’t bother anyone but they look surreal at dusk.
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