According to the American Wind Energy Association, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently told wind power supporters that a House vote on a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) was likely to happen the week of July 30.

A renewable portfolio standard – also called a renewable energy standard – is a measure requiring utilities to get a certain amount of their power from renewable sources by a particular time.

Last month in the Senate, Senator Jeff Bingaman’s (D-NM) RPS amendment to the energy bill was killed before a vote could be held. Although the current House version of the energy bill does not have an RPS provision, Representatives Tom Udall (D-NM) and Todd Platts (R-PA) are expected to offer an amendment requiring utilities to get 20 percent of their energy from renewables by 2020. This amendment is based on H.R. 969, which calls for an RPS and is also authored by Udall and Platts. (Make sure your Representative is one of the 120 co-sponsors here).

In her meeting with wind power supporters, Pelosi underscored the critical role an RPS would play in moving the nation towards global warming solutions.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 20 percent by 2020 RPS would save consumers nearly $11 billion on energy bills by 2030 and save nearly 2 billion short tons of coal from being burned up into the atmosphere. Similarly, the American Solar Energy Society found that an RPS could help create nearly 40 million new jobs in the U.S. by 2030 in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors.

It’s Getting Hot in Here
Union of Concerned Scientists
Wind Energy Weekly

With over 20 states taking the lead and implementing renewable energy standards that require a certain amount of energy to come from renewable sources, it’s about time that the federal government at least starts talking about action.

The Dow Jones Newswire reports that Congress is “likely” to pass a renewable energy standard – in this instance called a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) – in the next several months. Renewable energy requirements have stronger support on both sides of the aisle as opposed to the more controversial limits on global warming emissions. Prudential Equity Group analyst James Lucier went so far as to say, “An RPS can almost certainly be done this year… It's one of the few things investors can count on in this Congress."

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is drawing up a bill that would require 15 percent of the country’s power to come from renewable energy by 2020. Passing an RPS is a top priority for Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, explained a Bingaman spokesman.

The Senate has passed an RPS before, only to have it blocked in the House by Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The current Chairman, Representative John Dingell (D-MI) has been supportive of an RPS in the past. And with a political shift in the House and an influx of folks who see renewable energy as a serious solution to national security, economic development, global warming, and health, the legislation is much more likely to succeed. There’s already an RPS bill in the House – authored by Democrats and Republicans – requiring 20 percent renewables by 2020.

The big hurdle left is the White House. President Bush opposes a federal RPS, arguing that standards are better left to the states. But state laws are creating a nightmare of patchwork regulations in the minds of many utility execs. The newly formed U.S. Climate Action Partnership argues that federal legislation on energy policy, for example, will allow them operate much more efficiently across state lines. This is a very important issue that environmentalists, renewable energy supporters, business, and others can get behind. President Bush could continue to oppose it, but I'm optimistic that enough pressure from enough walks of life could sway him.