Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Oregon's RPS Termed 'Historic'

The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard for May 27 has a strongly positive article on the state's newly approved renewable portfolio standard, saying in part:

By a surprisingly lopsided 41-19 vote, the House approved a bill that requires Oregon's biggest utilities, including the Eugene Water & Electric Board, to generate 25 percent of their power by 2025 from renewable energy sources. The Senate passed a similar version of the bill last month, and is expected to quickly endorse the House changes and send the measure to Gov. Ted Kulongoski to be signed into law.

Oregonians should be proud of this historic legislation, which should help limit carbon emissions while at the same time promoting alternative energy and boosting the state's economy. The proposal's scope and complexity, along with the initial wariness of powerful utility and business interests, made its passage anything but a foregone conclusion.

As I have commented elsewhere, hopefully "business interests" will come to see that this type of legislation is in their best interest, because (1) it helps to stabilize energy prices (wind power, which likely will provide a major chunk of the electricity from renewable sources, uses no fuel and is therefore immune to fuel price spikes on world markets); and (2) it reduces the risk of future carbon emissions regulation and/or taxation.

Congratulations to Oregon! That's a standard of 25% of electricity supply from renewable energy sources by 2025.

Regards,
Tom

2 comments:

chris said...

Tom,

Just wanted to drop in to tell you what a fantastic job you're doing here at Risingwind. This blog is fantastic!!

Even though i'm an academic who makes my home in the humanities(literacy studies is my primary area of expertise - i.e. English), my career and investment plans are to gradually come to include wind farming as another area of expertise. I'm planning to make this addition sooner rather than later, and your blog is a great link to the world of knowledge available about wind energy.

So, thanks for the knowledge and the diligence.

Best,
chris

Tom Gray said...

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. As Mark Twain once said, "I can live for a month on a good compliment."

It's tough to find the time sometimes to blog as much as I'd like, but the blog does seem like a uniquely useful educational tool.

Thanks again for stopping by.