Renewable power: Environmental or political product?

By Steven F. Greenwald and Christopher A. Hilen

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What's in a name? Plenty, if the word is "renewable." Intuitively, most people outside the energy industry consider hydroelectric power "renewable." The dictionary defines the word as follows: "capable of being replaced by natural ecological cycles." Accordingly, rainwater should indisputably qualify as renewable. Yet since the early days of renewable portfolio objectives, most hydro projects have been purposely denied renewable status.

Unfortunately, political considerations analogous to those that deem hydroelectric power a renewable outcast continue to determine whether other generation technologies and fuels receive the valuable "renewable" designation. All too often, these determinations exclude demonstrably renewable power sources from the renewables club. Such politically disfavored power sources do not qualify for state renewable portfolio mandates and, thus, are not developed. These practices perpetuate reliance on fossil fuels—a result in exact opposition to the mandates" objective.

Environmental criteria, not political expediency

State legislatures and regulators should base criteria for renewable status on objective and consistent environmental metrics, not on which fuel or technology leads in the polls at the moment. Such an approach will best serve to maximize the economic deployment of renewable generation technology. In contrast, the latest iteration of California's renewable portfolio mandate and its legislation restricting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants make clear that renewable power designations remain unduly subject to politics.

The California Legislature recently amended the state's renewable portfolio mandate for the fifth time in five years, changing its definition of "renewable" yet again. Counterintuitively, the new law, which becomes effective in 2007, denies renewable status to ostensibly "green" sources, such as power generated by solid waste conversion or combustion, large hydroelectric facilities, and certain renewable power originating in other states.

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