A mandatory renewable energy target is a government legislated requirement on electricity retailers to source specific proportions of total electricity sales from renewable energy sources according to a fixed timeframe. The additional cost is distributed across most customers by increases in other tariffs. The cost of this measure is therefore not funded by government budgets, except for costs of establishing and monitoring the scheme and any audit and enforcement actions.
At least 66 countries, including 27 EU countries have renewable energy policy targets of some type. The EU baseline target is 20% by 2020. While the USA does not have a national RET, 29 of its states do. Similarly Canada has 9 provincial RETs but no national target. Targets are typically for shares of electricity production, but some are defined as by primary energy supply, installed capacity or otherwise. While some targets are based on 2010-12, many are now for 2020 which ties in with the IPCC suggested greenhouse gas emission cuts of 25 to 40% by Annex I countries by 2020, although some are for 2025.
Read more about Mandatory Renewable Energy Target: Overview, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words mandatory, energy and/or target:
“Off south, the bison multiply so fast
a slaughter’s mandatory every spring
and every spring the creeks get fat
and Kicking Horse fills up.”
—Richard Hugo (1923–1982)
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“All of women’s aspirations—whether for education, work, or any form of self-determination—ultimately rest on their ability to decide whether and when to bear children. For this reason, reproductive freedom has always been the most popular item in each of the successive feminist agendas—and the most heavily assaulted target of each backlash.”
—Susan Faludi (20th century)