The future of renewable energy is in Texas

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-is-leading-the-way-in-renewable-energy/

By IRINA IVANOVA MONEYWATCH July 27, 2017, 11:35 AM

The future of renewable energy is in Texas

Renewable energy isn't at a crossroads in the U.S. so much as on a two-lane highway: While the federal government hits the gas on fossil fuels, states are speeding ahead to develop renewable energy -- and reaching new milestones.

For example, enough solar energy is being collected every year to power all the single-family homes in Florida. Three states generate more than one-third of their energy from wind and solar. Some 160,000 electric cars were sold last year -- enough to supply the entire population of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And earlier this year, wind and solar produced one-tenth of the nation's energy for an entire month.

A recent report highlights the states that are most quickly embracing renewable energy. And the leaders are not what many people might expect. Yes, California has some of the most pro-environment laws on the books. But the state that produces the most renewable energy in terms of sheer quantity? It's Texas. The states that generate the largest portion of their power from renewables: Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and the Dakotas.



SOURCE: ENVIRONMENT AMERICA/FRONTIER GROUP

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Texas is one such example. The state set renewable energy goals back in 1999, and again in 2005, which it has since far surpassed. It now produces more wind energy than most countries. The U.S. now generates more power from wind turbines than from hydroelectric dams. Earlier this year, the use of wind power reached a record high, with more than half of the power in a number of Great Plains states coming from wind.

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SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, BERKELEY LAB

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