The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently estimated that approximately 25% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from electricity generation. In response, the California legislature established a wide variety of programs to reduce electricity consumption, to implement emission performance standards (SB 1368), and to increase the use of renewable electricity sources, such as solar and wind power (SB 1078 and SB 107). The California legislature also directed CARB to adopt rules and regulations to reduce all sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels by the year 2020 (an estimated 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from business-as-usual estimates). Despite these significant steps to address global climate change, one group thinks California can do more.

Earlier this month, proponents of a renewable energy initiative submitted 735,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative, entitled the Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008, would require that all utilities in California achieve 40% renewable electricity by 2020, and 50% by 2025. By comparison, current law requires that retail sellers, including investor owned utilities (IOUs), increase their share of renewable electricity by 1% per year so that, by the close of 2010, 20% of retail sales are generated from renewable energy sources (pending legislation would increase this standard to 33% by 2020). Notably, as of 2006, California’s IOUs generated only about 13% of their electricity from renewable sources.

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