The United States is experiencing a significant shift in its energy
landscape. Last year, utility-scale wind and solar power combined for 47
percent of new generation capacity in the U.S. Based on this expansion,
11 states now generate more than 10 percent of their electricity from
solar, wind, and geothermal power, with three of these states — Iowa,
South Dakota, and Kansas — exceeding 20 percent. In 2014, California
became the first state in the nation to garner 5 percent of its
electricity from utility-scale solar. When including hydropower, four
states —Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and South Dakota — now exceed 70
percent renewables generation.
Just released to the public, Clean Edge’s 2015 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index
tracks and ranks the clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50
largest metro areas in the U.S. The Index highlights the dramatic shifts
taking place by tracking a wide range of leadership indicators, from EV
and renewables adoption to patent and investment activity.
Against this national backdrop, the top states and metro areas tracked by our 2015 Index are
accelerating their clean-energy goals to levels once believed
unthinkable. In California, the #1 state in the Index for six
consecutive years, Governor Jerry Brown set a target of 50 percent
generation from renewables by 2030 in his January 2015 State of the
State address. The California cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and San
Diego (along with much smaller cities like Burlington, Vt., Georgetown,
Tex., and Greensburg, Kans.) have renewable energy goals of 100
percent. And lawmakers in Hawaii, a state that’s back in the top 10 in
this year’s Index, made the biggest splash of all in May, establishing
the nation’s first statewide 100 percent renewables target (by 2045).
That audacious goal passed the two houses of Hawaii’s state legislature
by a combined vote of 74-2 and was awaiting Governor David Ige’s
expected signature as our latest Index report went to press; the Aloha
State is currently at about 20 percent renewables.
Making these goals possible, in addition to the significant expansion
of wind power over the past decade, is the recent surge in the growth
of solar energy and energy storage. The U.S. added more than 6 GW of new
solar capacity in 2014, a 30 percent growth rate. And breakthroughs in
advanced batteries are poised to enable the mass adoption of distributed
and intermittent renewables, while giving companies and individuals the
opportunity to help ease strains on the grid during periods of
high-energy demand.
State Leadership Spans East, West, and in Between
California leads all states in the Index by a wide margin for the
sixth consecutive year. The rest of the top five states in last year’s
Index — assachusetts, Oregon, Colorado, and New York — repeated their
respective rankings in our 2015 edition.
Places six through 10, however, showed some notable movement from
last year. Fellow New England states Vermont and Connecticut each jumped
three places to #6 and #7, respectively. Illinois held steady at #8 for
the third straight year, but Washington fell two spots to ninth, its
third consecutive yearly drop since ranking #4 in 2012. Hawaii moved up
two places to rejoin the top 10. The Aloha State has climbed in the
ranks significantly since ranking 19th back in 2010. The bottom five states in this year’s index are West Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Mississippi, and Nebraska.
Metro Leadership Across the Nation, But South Lags
On the metro front, the San Francisco Bay Area remains the nexus of
clean-tech leadership in the U.S. The San Francisco metro area is #1 in
the Index for the third straight year with southern neighbor San Jose in
second place. San Francisco’s nearly 15-point lead a year ago shrunk to
about six points, with an overall score of 86.5 to San Jose’s 80.6. But
both remained well ahead of #3 Portland at 59.7.
San Diego dropped from third to fourth this year while Los Angeles
rose from #7 to #6. But Sacramento, ranking #5 in 2014, dropped out of
the top 10 to #12 this year and Denver (10th last year) also fell off the leaderboard to 11th.
Seattle, out of the top 10 last year for the first time, rebounded to
place seventh. Tenth-place Chicago joins the top 10 for the first time
after placing 12th in each of the first three years of the Index. At the bottom of this year’s metro index are eight southern metros:
Louisville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Memphis, New Orleans,
and Birmingham.
The transition to a clean tech and energy efficiency-based economy,
based on the many indicators we track, is well underway. As highlighted
above, solar and wind power, along with natural gas, are now the
mainstream choices for meeting the nation’s electricity needs;
coal-fired and nuclear power, the dominant choices of the 20th
century, have become the marginalized “alternatives.” Similarly,
energy-efficient appliances, LED light bulbs, green buildings, and
hybrid and electric vehicles are expanding as conventional offerings, in
most cases, fall further behind.
Regional governments, at the state and metro level, are setting a
range of targets as we increasingly transition to a low-carbon economy.
The goal of 50 percent, 80 percent, or 100 percent renewables will not
be easy and will require innovation across the clean-tech value chain —
in technology, policy, and capital. By indexing the activities of states
and metro regions, we can track overall progress, and learn from both
emerging best practices and unforeseen mistakes.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/06/state-and-metro-governments-consumer-actions-drive-dramatic-shift-in-us-energy-landscape.html