Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) has launched an online database enabling users to track renewable energy-related legislation across all 50 US states
The Advanced Energy Legislation (AEL) Tracker has been developed with Advanced Energy Economy and will also allow CNEE to analyse trends in state energy legislation.
CNEE said state legislatures are currently considering over 2,000 individual bills affecting policies on solar and other forms of renewable energy.
AEL Tracker monitors all of these and their progress through the legislation process.
CNEE said that using data available only on the tracker, it was able to reveal facts such as that 25% of pending state energy legislation calls for new financing tools for the installation of energy facilities, or that around 21% of pending bills promote development of clean energy.
“If we look at where the country is going on advanced energy policy, overwhelmingly that transition is being led by states,” said Bill Ritter, director of CNEE and former governor of Colorado.
“To get the pulse of where the country is going we need to understand what the states are doing. AEL Tracker brings together information on energy-related legislation in all 50 states, in a form that is easily accessible not only to lawmakers at all levels of government, but to academics, analysts, environmentalists, funders, business leaders and the general public. It will allow our centre to conduct critical academic analysis of issues related to energy legislation nationwide.”
CNEE expects to publish two to three trend analyses per month and will next publish a white paper on financing of advanced energy.
Graham Richard, CEO of AEE, added: “AEL Tracker is a nonpartisan tool that allows researchers, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens to follow and analyse advanced energy legislation, individually and in aggregate.”
