Clean energy resources for state lawmakers

In 2023, California enacted legislation to encourage the installation of solar power infrastructure along California’s highways. You can read the bill language here.

Here’s a report that documents the potential for solar power along California’s highways, coauthored by Environment California Research & Policy Center and the Ray: 

States should encourage or require the adoption of Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+), a fast, automated online permitting system developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and available free of charge for local governments. California’s bill requiring most California cities and counties to implement an online, automated permitting platform is linked here. Prior to passing this bill, California created a funding source to help cities and counties cover the costs of transitioning to the new system. Now over 100 CA cities are using SolarAPP to instantly review solar roof or battery energy storage permits.

In 2023, California enacted legislation to encourage the installation of solar power infrastructure along California’s highways. Now other states including Massachusetts and Rhode Island are considering similar policy. After all, the best time to put solar on a home or business is at the time of construction. You can read the bill language here. 

Seven states have phased out the sale of most fluorescent light bulbs in favor of LEDs, generating significant energy, carbon dioxide, and utility bill savings while avoiding a source of mercury pollution. Interested in doing the same for your state? We’ve partnered with the Appliance Standards Awareness Project to put together a toolkit of resources for state lawmakers. You can access that toolkit here. 

By setting appliance efficiency standards, states can decrease energy use, save consumers and businesses money, and reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The Appliance Standards Awareness Project provides information to assist state energy offices, legislators, and policy advocates on appliance efficiency standards. 

States should encourage or require the transition to electric vehicles through strong “clean car” standards. To date, 17 states have adopted all or part of California’s low-emission and zero-emission vehicle regulations, as allowed under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act.Information. Resources about the Advanced Clean Cars II is available here at the California Air Resources Board.

Here’s a link to legislation introduced in Massachusetts that aims to electrify public and public-serving motor vehicle fleets by 2035, establish a centralized procurement process for public fleets, and set goals for converting private fleets to electric vehicles.

This bill introduced in Massachusetts requires regional transit authority bus fleets to be electrified by 2035, and establishes an office to provide technical and planning support for the transition to electric buses.

This report by U.S. PIRG Education Fund shows how state and local governments around the country could save a total of nearly $11 billion in lifetime expenses by purchasing EVs as opposed to gasoline-powered vehicles for their light-duty fleets over the next 10 years.

This report by U.S. PIRG Education Fund explores the potential to equip electric school buses with technology that allows them to deliver power to buildings and back to the grid. 

According to the Department of Energy, 13 coastal states have announced planning targets or procurement mandates for offshore wind energy. The New England for Offshore Wind website, a coalition of which Environment America is a member, details state-level procurement goals and links to policies in New England. The Southeastern wind coalition offers state-level fact sheets for NC, LA, VA and SC. 

The report Offshore Wind for America shows how twenty-nine states have the potential to generate offshore wind energy and how big those resources are compared to current electricity use.

New England governors just embarked on a multi-state procurement plan for offshore wind – the first of its kind in the United States. Other regions could consider similar action to speed adoption and reduce costs.

To date, 11 states have codified goals to reach 100% clean or renewable electricity, with plans and benchmarks in place to hit those goals. States including Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are actively considering 100% goals. You can view the text of the 100% Clean Act introduced in Massachusetts here and download a fact sheet on the bill here. 

For a state-by-state assessment of each state’s solar and wind potential, here’s We Have the Power, a report by Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.

For a state-by-state assessment of the growth of key clean energy technologies and the ability to compare that growth across states, here’s the Renewables on the Rise dashboard.