Kathleen Law, a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, announced June 6 that she endorses the use of Advanced Renewable Tariffs to spur the rapid development of solar and wind energy. In doing so, Representative Law becomes the fist sitting American political figure to endorse the concept successfully used to power Europe to the forefront of renewable energy technology.
Several Canadian political parties have also endorsed the concept of Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs. The Canadian province of Ontario was the first to implement the strategy in North America with its Standard Offer Contract program in 2006.
In March, former Vice President Al Gore in testimony before Congress on climate change called for a national system of renewable energy tariffs.
Renewable energy tariffs allow homeowners, farmers, and businesses to feed solar and wind energy into the electricity grid and specifies the amount that they are paid for their electricity. Germany now produces 10% of its electricity from new sources of renewable energy and employs 170,000 people as a direct result of such a policy.
Representative Law joins more than one hundred individuals, organizations, and political parties in supporting the development of Advanced Renewable Tariffs in North America. She hopes that encouraging Americans to produce and sell electricity for a profit from renewable sources will lead to a new industrial revolution in the United States.
