Sun, water, waves, wind… no this isn’t the beginning to an episode of Captain Planet or a tour of power plants in Orbit City courtesy of George Jetson, but real sources of energy that are being harnessed and used to greater or lesser extent today. While it’s true that we still heavily rely on fossil fuels, renewable energy is on the rise, now accounting for almost 10 percent of US electricity generation. This number is only expected to increase, in part due to rising demand for renewable electricity from individual states in the absence of a national mandate. For many reasons, including a goal of encouraging economic development and the growth of the clean tech sector, many states have taken it upon themselves to increase their use of renewable energy by implementing policies known as Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).

Read more…