December 1, 2006—Voters in Washington State have approved a measure that calls for the state’s investor-owned utilities to draw on new renewable energy sources for 15 percent of their electricity supply by 2020, according to a report from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
Initiative Measure 937 allows utilities to buy renewable energy credits to help meet the requirement, and gives double credit for smaller, customer-sited systems, so long as the utility buys the renewable energy credits for those systems. The renewable power can be produced from wind, solar, geothermal, or ocean energy, as well as hydropower and certain types of biomass energy.
The measure also calls for utilities to pursue all available energy-saving efforts that are cost-effective, reliable, and feasible, allowing credit for customer-owned facilities that generate both heat and power. For the full text of the initiative (PDF file), visit online.
