Gov. Jerry Brown might not have a budget any time soon, but he did make a bold move Tuesday by signing the most aggressive energy policy of any state in the country. Sitting at a table at SunPower’s solar manufacturing facility in Milpitas, Brown signed a mandate that will force utilities in the state to have a third of its energy come from renewable sources by 2020. The previous benchmark had been 20 percent.
“Instead of taking oil from thousands of miles away we’re taking the sun,” Brown said, according to the Mercury News . “This is about California leading the country, and America potentially leading the world.”
The mandate is expected to spur California’s “green” economy into action as companies push to meet the deadline for upping their renewable energy sources. The website SolarServer.com reports that State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) authored the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) because it was necessary to make the bill state law “in order to give investors the confidence that they need to invest in the state’s renewable energy sector.”
The Merc reports that in 2009, just 14 percent of all of California’s electricity came from renewable sources. Advances in geothermal, wind and solar energy production are all expected to contribute to making California more sustainable.
Read More at the Mercury News.
Read More at USA Today.
Read More at SolarServer.com
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